


The Making Of Legends And Men

by HunterMemoir



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Graphic Description, Moral Dilemmas, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2017-01-14
Packaged: 2018-07-12 00:17:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 32
Words: 99,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7076644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HunterMemoir/pseuds/HunterMemoir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They felt the pain of death, they remembered their last breath upon the Earth. They died, and then, they woke up, years before, memory intact, given a second chance at the life they truly deserved.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This fic has been in the works since the night Thirteen aired. Now that I have at least the first few chapters outlined, and just in time for the three months mark of Lexa's death, I'm uploading it for your enjoyment.  
> For all of us broken souls who took much inspiration from Lexa, one of the strongest, most complex LGBT characters I've ever encountered in mainstream TV.
> 
> Be strong, be proud.  
> Happy Pride Month!

It wasn’t the first time she woke in cold sweat, her breath rapid and shallow and her eyes sensitive to light. What she went through; what she did; it stayed with her, it always will.

Their faces, their names, their corpses.  _ Her _ .  _ Her _ face.  _ Her _ voice.  _ Her _ smell.  _ Her _ betrayal.  _ Her _ penance.  _ Her _ smile.  _ Her _ words.  _ Her _ love.  _ Her last breath _ .  _ Her corpse _ .  _ Her _ neck split into two, blood black as the night bubbling up to the surface as the tiny crystal chip rose from the cut, thin wires climbing up the still spine, unmoving, indiscernible under the soft skin of  _ Her _ back.

 

This time though, it was different. The air no longer smelled of rain and smoke, it was metallic and stuffed, as it was back on the Ark. At first, she thought it was only in her mind, she hasn’t been to what was left of the Ark, in her people's’ camp, in months, and she no longer saw it as her home.  _ She was her home. _ She no longer had a home. Then the hum, the never ending, always present, machine hum, that Clarke knew was present only when the Ark was still in space, she could hear it. When she opened her eyes though, she realised that her senses were telling the truth. She was on the Ark. In one moment, her entire body tensed. She started to take notice of everything around her, she was in her old room, in her parents quarters, she sat up on the edge of her bed, waiting for her vision to stop spinning. When it did, she stood up, walking slowly, not yet fully trusting her feet to carry her weight. She stood in front of her closet mirror. In front of her stood a stranger. No lines, no scars, her face smooth and oh so very young. She looked carefully, she didn’t look like herself, not anymore. She was younger, not by much, but enough that there was a height difference. She was no older than 15, she remembers as in that year she did most of her growing, but now, she was so small, almost a foot less than she was last night, when she went to sleep, in her chambers, on Earth.

 

“Clarke, sweetie. it’s time to get up, we need to be in the MedBay in 30 minutes.”

Her mother’s voice was so clear, unbothered, the world has yet to fall around her, but Clarke was not spared the same fate.

 

Her door opened just as she was taking her shirt off, her time on Earth had made her used to no privacy, she didn’t stop removing her shirt, but as she heard one of the two voices she missed most, apologizing for bothering her, she froze.

 

“I’ll come back when you’re done, Clarke. Good morning.” Her father was retreating from her room so quickly she thought she was dreaming again, it wasn’t possible her father was that fast. The lack of scars on her upper torso, told of a different story.

Was her entire time on the ground a dream? was she sick? She felt her forehead, she wasn’t warm, she looked at the mirror, she looked well enough, a little pale, but she was pale most days on the Ark, most people were.

Thoughts running through her mind, she hurried to dress, the ratty fabric feeling odd on her skin after months of wearing new cotton, wool and leather on Earth. Her breath laboring once again as she realises she can no longer remember how long it was since she saw her father last, and suddenly, he’s alive, and tears are falling from her eyes.  _ So was Her. Worlds away. _

 

“Clarke? Coming?” Her mother’s voice alerted her to her time alone running out, she wiped her tears and left her room.

“Why are you crying?” It seemed that her mother was observant as always, noticing her daughter’s tear stained cheeks.

“It’s nothing, Mom, I hit my foot on the dresser.” Abby nodded understandably, she had no reason to suspect otherwise. Clarke was a happy child, no weight on her shoulders and a secure future.

 

The two made their way to MedBay, Jackson’s familiar face greeting them as they enter.

“Good morning Abby, Clarke.”

“Morning Jackson.” Abby smiles at her former apprentice. Clarke nods slightly as a greeting, her eyes already taking in the partially filled MedBay, vowing to take her studies more seriously this time around, not that she was a careless student before, but she believed she had time. Now she knows, she had a year at most, before her father finds the failure in the Ark’s Oxygen retaining system, and for her to be imprisoned in solitary, as a traitor.

 

The day went on, Abby and Jackson continued to teach Clarke as they did before, though surprised at her newfound enthusiasm for learning their trade. For Clarke, as the day went on, it became a nightmare. She never realised before just how much the air on the Ark was recycled, just how much of it was actually Oxygen, after a couple of hours she already felt the difference, her lungs seemed to work over-time, and she was lightheaded when she turned her head too quickly. It was hard and painful, but it was proof, proof she wasn’t dreaming and that she really did spend the last few months on Earth, breathing it’s fresh air and eating from the land. Clarke wondered if her lungs burned, was it possible that her muscles remember her training as a warrior?  _ heda _ ’s Royal Guard took it as a challenge to turn  _ wanheda _ from the legend she was to the warrior she should have been. At first it had to be a secret, Titus did not trust Clarke and kept a mindful eye on every step she took in Polis, but as time went on, he realised that she was not going to leave, and wasting his resources on watching her was starting to impend on his regular practice of relaying a network of spies for  _ heda _ ’s use, thus he let it go. What he did not realise, was that his  _ heda _ , as he liked to boast, knew everything that happened in Polis, and had her own band of informants. She was already aware of Clarke’s training, and the moment Titus’ back was turned and his many eyes looking elsewhere, she herself, along with the occasional visit from the Azgeda king himself, took a part in Clarke’s physical, and political training. But it all came to an end, when Titus saw a chance to end Clarke’s life, but killed his  _ heda _ instead.

  
  


Clarke left Polis that night, the night of  _ Her _ death, with Murphy by her side, but not before she found Titus and the Conclave. They have just begun as she found them, the children all standing still, looking at each other with dreadful eyes, coloured with respect. Ontari was there as well. Standing tall and strong, but it was Aden that Clarke watched closely, he was  _ Her _ favorite. Now that she knew what it truly meant to be Heda, she knew, he was  _ Her _ favorite for a reason,  _ She knew _ ,  _ She _ knew he would be the one to do best should he succeed  _ Her _ . Clarke sent Murphy ahead,, aware that what she was about to do may put an end to her life, but she did not care.  _ She _ , her reason to live, to fight, was no longer among the living. If there was one thing she was told by those heavenly lips, that she never forgot, even when rage and betrayal blinded her.

 

_ “The dead are gone, Klark, and the living are hungry.” _

 

Her life no longer her own, armed with the knowledge of the true spirit of The Commander, Clarke made her way to Titus, quietly, holding the tip of her dagger to his throat, she felt him still as his pulse began to race.

 

“You have yet to pay for the death you have dealt.  _ Flemkipa _ ”

 

“You do not know what you are doing,  _ skaigada _ , let me go.” Titus’ calm words angered Clarke and so she pressed the sharp tip farther into soft, pliant flesh.

 

“I will. Once I have what I came for.” her free hand pulled Titus outer robe and snuck into the side pouch she knew was there, taking out the small, red pack, while simultaneously hitting Titus on the back of his neck with her dagger’s hilt, hitting right where the Vagus nerve should be, incapacitating the man for some time.

 

The Nightbloods watched on, tiny bodies tense with the call for war and blood, to protect their teacher and each other from the one they believed before would not harm them.

 

“Aden” Clarke called the young warrior, he was tense as he answered her call, but not as much as the others, as if sensing she means no harm to the Nightbloods.

 

“ _ wanheda _ ” his head dips in respect for who, he alone out of the Nightbloods, knew, was his commander’s beloved.

 

“You were her favorite for a reason.” Aden furrows his brow, this was the first time he hears those words, but he knows them to be true.  _ heda _ was always pushing him harder, willing to give more of her precious time for him.

 

Clarke steps closer to the small blonde boy, her voice strong as she informs those present of the future of this conclave.

 

“There won’t be a conclave tonight.  _ heda _ has chosen, before her death. And I am here to fulfill her wishes.” as Clarke comes closer to Aden, the other Nightbloods are raging, it was their right to fight for the title of  _ heda _ . But Clarke did not care, she knew that  _ Her _ wish was that her legacy would be peace, and not war. This was the reason Clarke was there to make sure peace would follow, even at the expense of her own life.

 

Clarke opens the red pack, turning Aden by his small shoulders, his neck exposed and blemishless, that was about to change.

 

“This will hurt.  _ Ascendo Superiores _ ” was the only warning Clarke gave the boy before she cut into the back of his neck, one tiny cut, but deep enough. She pressed the small crystal chip into the blackened slit, and watched as the thin wires sprung to life and made their way into the wound and into the spine of the living child.

 

It took a few seconds before Aden moved again, in that time, Clarke heated the tip of her dagger and closed the wound in the boy’s neck, Aden was still and soundless as she pressed the red hot blade to his skin, tears of despair and acceptance running down her cheeks as she accepted the reality of the death of her beloved.

 

When Aden turned to look at her, she saw a familiar fire burning in his pale blue eyes, her sobs turning from soundless to soul-tearing loud at his next words.

 

“  _ ai laik aiden kom azgeda. ai laik heda. _ ” and as he spoke, reassuring her with his eyes, Clarke felt what she expected since the moment she decided to do what she had just done. Titus’ dagger, slipping deeper and deeper into her flesh, beyond the ribs of her back, into her lungs, and finally, into her heart.

 

With her last breath she saw Aden tearing, his spirit recognizing her as a part of him, as he called, voice bubbling with rage at her end.

 

“ _ yu gonplei ste odon _ ”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heda - Commander  
> wanheda - Commander of Death  
> flemkipa - Flamekeeper  
> skaigada - Sky girl  
> ai laik aiden kom azgeda, ai laik heda. - I am Aden of the Ice Nation, I am the Commander.  
> yu gonplei ste odon - Your fight is over
> 
> (Latin) Ascendo Superiores - ascend higher


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story of a lonely soul, and walls that rise high, reaching for the sky.  
> Family and friends, life and death, no one is ever truly alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was written and then rewritten after the past week, I think there are around four versions of this chapter somewhere on my computer...  
> I hope you, dear people of this unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, seeing as the world of the 100 is kind of wickedly dangerous...) real world enjoy this chapter as much as you did the first one.  
> Thank you, all of you kind people who sent Kudos my way!  
> Have a great weekend!

It was hard for Clarke to get back into the rhythm of life on the Ark. Where she once was a happy child with little to no worries, she now had all those walls she built to just survive on the ground, the wall she built after she had to give the order to burn 300 _trikru_ _gonakru_ alive, after she slipped the knife meant for Lexa into Finn’s heart, after she irradiated the mountain and spent three months in the woods, avoiding almost all human contact, after she fell to her knees before Lexa and gave her heart and soul to her people who she no longer believed deserved it. After she had lost the love of her life.

 

The first to notice the change was Wells. Clarke had almost forgotten how much time they used to spend together. When her eyes seemed to lose their spark, and her spirit dimmed, Wells was there, to see, to hear, to feel the difference. At first he tried to understand where it all began, but as she retreated deeper into herself, his efforts went unrewarded until he understood that nothing he did seemed to help his childhood friend.

 

It started with the time they spent with their fathers. The soccer matches used to be their Friday night tradition, Jake and Clarke were always so vocal about their beloved teams, they goaded and teased their friends about matches that ended long before any of them were even born. Jake and Clarke were still up to their usual habit of teasing their friends, but where before, Clarke used to sit in the middle of the largest couch in the room, now she sat on the armchair if it were available, and when it wasn’t, she waited until after everyone else were seated and chose the seat farthest away from Thelonious, as she could.

Teasing and joking as usual only went so far at hiding from her closest friend. He noticed, and she shut him out, bit by bit, until all they had left were memories of better days and their daily afternoon Chess matched.

 

When Wells, who was a year younger than Clarke declared he would be joining his father in his duties, so one day he could have a political career of his own, Clarke grimaced at her friend, trying to be happy for him, but reminded of all the mistakes Thelonious Jaha has made as a Chancellor, she was weary of what he would teach her kindhearted friend.

 

Clarke had started her medical training long before she was officially accepted as a medical apprentice. She grew up in MedBay, between the beds for the sick and the lab with all it’s gory contents. By age twelve, when the children of the Ark had officially graduated from school, and were given additional three years to try out the possible occupations of the Ark, to see what suited them best, Clarke was already accepted as a medical apprentice, and by age fifteen, when she was supposed to officially declare her choice (not that she had that many options, there were only so many professions on the Ark), she was already in the last stage of her medical training, assisting the senior staff in surgeries and diagnosing the easier cases by herself.

Wells, on the other hand, had taken the opportunity to broaden his horizons, moving from one profession to another over the 36 months afforded to him, trying out whatever was offered, taking a special care to do his best work everywhere he went.

Clarke was often worried for her friend, fearing that this was his way to atone for his father’s mistakes, or at the very least, lighten the heavy guilt on his shoulders, believing it was not right that he had more than others on the Ark.

Wells, decision did not surprise Clarke at all, Wells always believed the best in people and thought that he may be able to help everyone by taking a political position, aiming to help the weaker citizens on the Ark. But he never truly understood that it wasn’t their council's inability to help that was hindering a better quality of life for all of the Ark’s citizens, but the councilmen greed and their backstabbing power plays.

 

Clarke remembered backstabbing and power plays well enough. She remembered bowing and swearing fealty. She remembered gunshots and bullets. She remembered blood black as the night-sky on her hands, on her bed, on her lips. She remembered green eyes, and lips muttering in a jumbled mix of two languages. She remembered tears that she knew were her own, and pride and love and the utter devastation and despair of loss. She remembered green eyes tearing at the face of betrayal, swords into hearts and  _ jus drein jus daun _ . She remembered the feeling of a sharp knife cutting into the skin of her back, slipping between her ribs and into her lungs and heart. She remembers for them all. Alone and scared, without a soul that she was sure would keep her secret.

 

Wells used to take every word she said at face value, never fearing that she would lie, but as the time went, and Clarke walls built higher and higher, Wells no longer saw whatever allowed him to trust her so in her eyes. She would have cried, had she had any tears left.

 

The next one to notice, was her father. Clarke and Jake always got along better than Clarke and Abby, they were both more carefree and artistic, while Clarke loved her mother dearly, she adored her father.

 

“Kiddo,” he used to say, “what’s on your mind?” whenever she was frowning, Before, she would sit next to her father and tell him every little detail about what was bothering her, but since she woke, her well of words seemed to have dried. She would frown, and her father would try and question her about the reason, but all he ever got was a smile so broken it cut deep into his heart, and a hug that took his breath away.

 

The next one to notice, was Callie Cartwig, her mother’s best friend and fellow council member, and Clarke’s aunt despite the fact there was no blood relation between the two.

Callie would take the time, each week to meetup with Clarke and talk to her, just for the sake of talking. Clarke was always so serious and very mature for her age, but the change between the present and the past Clarke was very obvious to Callie, gone was the girl who believed in the good in people, and naively thought that someday, she might be able to help, Callie soon noticed that Clarke had formed opinions very quickly and that most of them were resentful towards the council, but most of all, Callie noticed that Clarke no longer spoke to her about the one thing that always entertained her to no end and lightened her heart. Paramours. Clarke used to crush on people regularly, and since she found both men and women attractive, she had enough people she could crush on them, and with both her parents busy with their important jobs, Callie was always the first to know about them. Not to say that Clarke was easy, as most of her crushes were never acted upon, but she did have quite a fleeting heart. And for Callie, it all suddenly stopped.

 

It was a lunchtime, about three months after Clarke woke back on the Ark. She sat with Callie on one of their weekly meetups when Callie surprised her with a simple question that threw All that Clarke ever believed in from the moment she woke up until that point.

 

“What do you remember from before?” Clarke immediately knew that Callie wasn’t talking about their last lunch. Eyes wide and nails digging into flesh, Clarke gritted her teeth together, tensing every single muscle in her body.

 

“Callie?” the once again 15 year old asked her honorary aunt.

 

“I remember everything up until the mess with Sydney. After that, everything goes black.” Clarke stares at Callie, her muscles relaxing one by one, her breathing settling into a quick but controlled rhythm.

 

“It means- “ Clarke tries to explain, but Callie cut her before she could spit the words from her mouth.

 

“I know what it means, sweetie. That why I asked what you remembered.”

 

Clarke had a hard time controlling herself. She wanted to scream of both joy and despair, she was no longer alone, but still, Callie knew nothing about Earth and what went on there, what Clarke had gone through.

 

“Have you told anyone?” asked Clarke, and Callie looked mildly offended.

 

“I am not stupid, Clarke.” Clarke blushed under Callie’s glare, but her next words gave her a whiplash with how fast she raised her head to look into her aunt’s eyes.

“But I’m not the only one that knows, or remembers, for that matter.”

 

“Wh-who?” Clarke slurs, her surprise almost freezing her mind.

 

“This is neither the place nor the time, sweetie, come over after your shift, Okay?” Clarke nods quickly as Callie rises from her seat, her food gone and her time away from her duties is up, The two say their goodbyes and set to go on with their everyday lives.

 

Day to day life on the Ark had a certain monotony to them that Clarke couldn’t bear for long. She tread carefully, making sure to not change too much of her behavior from the one she had before her time on Earth, but she was well aware, she changed too much for it not to be felt by the people around her.

She was no longer trusting as she was before, she looked at the adults around her carefully, lest they betray her once again. She was intellectually aware that none of the adults had yet to betray her this time around, but the paranoia was well ingrained in her by now.

 

It took her months before she was calm enough to not wake up with a racing heartbeat in the middle of the night. She had taken to sleeping with a knife under her pillow, much like she had back in Polis. Trust issues aside, Clarke was well on her way to become a rather brilliant Doctor. Her mother and Jackson had taken to her renewed enthusiasm and trained her well, and she, on her own, started to make way with inventing ways to use less resources than ever before in every procedure she was presented with, knowing a time would come and she would have none of the comforts the Ark offered.

 

Abby and Jackson both wondered many time, some of them in her presence, why she was insisting to simplify procedures, while she herself knew them backwards and forwards. Make them possible with only a scalpel, cauterizer and a bandage, minimal anesthesia administered.

 

In her time since waking up on the Ark she noticed many familiar faces she had never noticed before. Suddenly, faceless workers became people she knew and fought for - and with - on the ground. They were strangers now, only recognising her because she was Abby and Jake Griffin’s daughter. She was lonely, not even when she was confined to solitary had she felt as lonely as she did in the months she spent since she woke.

 

All that changed, after Clarke’s conversation with Callie. Suddenly, the world wasn’t as bleak, and the monotony of the rest of the day wasn’t as overbearing as before. The day went on as usual, although moving a little faster, and Clarke was ready to make the short walk to Callie’s quarters, the one’s she shared with her husband. Marcus Kane.

 

Standing in front of the doors leading to her destination, Clarke took a deep breath, then knocked. She did not expect what she saw inside.

 

Callie opened the door, Marcus stood behind her, and instead of the tough and somewhat harsh man she always saw on the Ark, she saw her friend and fellow leader, her supporter and mentor. This was her Kane, the one that inspired trust and honor among the  _ skaikru _ on the ground, the one that convinced the commander herself that there was a chance yet for their people, despite their past transgression, truly, he was the one to get the credit for their early peace talks.

 

Marcus Kane remembered, and he wasn’t the only one.

 

“Is that Clarke?” she heard a deep voice from inside, it took her a couple of minutes to place it. Sinclair, Raven’s mentor. She wrinkled her forehead and moved into the living room when Callie moved out of the way. They weren’t alone.

 

In front of her, seated, some on the couches and some on the floor, were some of her closest friends, and some of the last original group of  _ skaikru  _ on Earth, and since they all acknowledged her on one way or another, despite the fact that none of them had ever met her in this life, cleared it all for her. They remembered, she was no longer alone.

 

“Hey there Princess!” Raven’s chipper voice was the first to crush through her thoughts and bring her back to reality. Tears running like waterfalls from her eyes and her voice caught in her throat, Clarke made it into the room, walking right to the gathering of people sitting around the entertainment unit in Callie and Kane’s quarters. 

 

The first one to rise from their seat was - to everyone’s surprise - John Murphy, who quickly rose from the floor and slipped his scrawny arms around Clarke, who had become one of the only people to ever treat him with any kind of respect. She might have exiled him from the 100 back in the old world, but she was also the one to stop everyone from hanging him to death, she was also one of the only people who might understand his reason to defend the Grounders, despite everything they had done to him, from torture, on more than one occasion, to infecting him with a biological weapon and releasing him around the 100’s camp.

 

Clarke hugged John close as their friends - more like allies in John’s case - watched on with surprise.

 

“It’s good to see you, Princess, I hoped you would wake up, didn’t want to explain what the hell  _ heda _ was doing in your bedroom when she died, or that she died, for that matter…”

 

Clarke froze slightly in his arms as he whispered, but relaxed quickly enough that no one but John noticed. He nodded into her hair, when she muttered her question into his neck.

 

“They don’t know  _ heda _ is dead?”

 

John stepped back, slipping his hands to her shoulders, squeezing tight in comfort.

 

“Was dead.” was all he said, but he said it loudly, and the others noticed.

 

“Was dead?” Octavia rose to her feet, Clarke was most surprised to see her here, the risk to hide her in plain sight in the chambers of not one, but two, council members, must be greater than they should be taking.

 

“Who was dead?” asked Raven, a little more gently than Octavia.

 

“Weren’t we all?” joked Monty and Nathan smirked a little at this, but stopped sooner, rather than later, worried about Clarke’s suddenly ashened face.

 

“Clarke?” Harper was the one who rose from her seat next, moving towards Clarke’s once again, frozen form.

 

“Lexa.” was the only word Clarke managed to let spill from her lips.

 

“Lexa is dead?” Kane moved towards the couches himself, his brows furrowed as he sat, he never heard a thing about Lexa’s death before his own, but by the look on everyone else's’ faces, no one did. Callie just looked plain confused.

 

“Who’s Lexa?” she asked, and fresh tears started running down Clarke’s face at her words. And Callie knew that whoever she was, this ‘Lexa’ was important to Clarke.

 

“She was alive when I left you in  _ polis _ .” said Octavia, staring at Clarke, she was obviously still angry at Clarke for letting her get back to Arkadia on her own.

 

“She was.” muttered Clarke under her heavy yet silent sobs. John took a hold of her shoulders once again and led her to one of the couches, pushing her to the middle and then seating himself to her right, Nathan to her left.

 

“What happened?” asked Kane, his voice soft and caring, he knew from the beginning that Clarke and Lexa were always closer to one another than they were letting on.

 

“I went to say goodbye.” Clarke looked at Kane, her tears welling up in her eyes, slipping one by one.

“Octavia gave me an hour, so I went to say my goodbyes, when I got back to my room- “

 

“More like her palace” Octavia injected bitingly, Clarke sent her a glare of her own.

 

“Murphy was tied on the floor, near the foot of my bed and Titus was standing there, with a gun, babbling something about me being a bad influence on Lexa and that she won’t be doing her duty as long as I live, so he started shooting. He’s a real lousy shot, but Lexa must have heard the shots and came to see what it’s all about. He got her just as she came through the door.”

 

“Who is Lexa, Marcus?” Callie repeated her question, now believing that whoever this girl was, she must have had some king of importance on the ground.

 

“She’s a grounder.” said Octavia, sitting back down, her arms crossed before her. Harper and Nathan burst into laughter.

 

“This is one way to say it.” said Harper as she tried to stop laughing. Callie motioned with her head that she would like a clearer answer.

 

“She was more than that.” started Kane, “She was the the leader of the 12 grounder clans.”

 

“She still is. On the ground.” reminded them John, for once the one to remember that all wasn’t lost just yet, at least if what they were seeing now was any indication to what was going on down on the ground.

 

“What were you doing with the leader of the grounders, Clarke?” Callie asked the girl she calls her niece.

 

“Clarke joined the Grounder Pounder club” smirked John, returning to his usual, snarky, ways.

 

Callie raised a brow, looking at her niece, who blushed under her boring eyes.

 

“I was an adult.” she muttered under her breath as she pushed an unusually bony elbow into John’s ribs.

 

“You were an adult?” smirked Monty and they all laughed a little. It might be a joke, but the fact was, they were close to three years in the past, and while Clarke, Raven and John were all 15 years old, Nathan, Monty and Harper were all 14 and Octavia herself was 13 years old, practically a child.

 

“We were, weren’t we?” Clarke joked, leaning back on the couch. Marcus looked at the children around him, then at his wife. They might all look like children, but if you dared to look too closely into their eyes, you would have to see the souls of broken soldiers, broken and repaired so many times that some cracks are simply impossible to fix.

 

“Would anyone be willing to tell me what the hell actually happened?” Callie was at the end of her patience.

 

“I would like to know as well,” quipped Sinclair, he was so quiet up until that moment that Clarke almost forgot he was there.

 

“Where would you like us to begin?” asked Marcus, and Callie, looking into her husband’s eyes, set her face, sat down with the rest and turned back to Clarke.

 

“From the beginning. Please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> trikru gonakru - Woods Clan warriors / army  
> jus drein jus daun - Blood must have blood  
> skaikru - Sky People  
> heda - Commander


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conversations to be had, tears to be cried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know! I know! I'm late! (by one day, but still) Life caught up with me...  
> This chapter is a little jumbled, I know, but it's as close as to a real flow of conversation between multiple people as I could get. I hope you guys enjoy it.
> 
> My condolences to all those who have lost someone in Orlando last Sunday, the news reached us here in Israel on Monday morning, I went to work crying. We had a similar case on a smaller scale, here in Israel a few years back and I lost a family friend. I hope you are all taking the time to remember. My heart goes to you.
> 
> ste yuj en reshop oso lukots

Stories have many beginnings, and sometimes, no clear ending. So was their story.

 

“Beginning? You would have to be a little clearer.” Clarke chuckled darkly.

 

“Marcus already told me everything up until Thelonious took over the Ark with his ‘City of Light’ madness. I want to know how the hell you came to have any contact with the grounder commander and how the rest of you ended up back here, in the past.” said Callie, she was obviously well informed enough for them to tell their parts of the story and no more, enabling them not to dwell on too much, yet tell her everything she needed to know.

 

“I was the first one to come in contact with a grounder. Lincoln.” Octavia started.

 

“Well, technically speaking, Jasper was. He was speared like the day after we landed.” said Monty lightly, and Callie gasped.

 

“What?”

 

“Yeah, finding out we weren’t alone on Earth was kind of a shocking thing for us, Jasper being speared and all that…” joked Nathan, and the rest chuckled along, their humor taking a rather dark turn since they first landed on the ground.

 

“I was the first one to make civil contact with the grounders - better? Anyway, after a few turbulent encounters with the grounders that included torture, kidnapping, lying, cheating, attacking, more torture, death by fire, being kidnapped by the  _ maunon _ \- I mean - the mountain men, then Finn murdering 18 innocent people in Clarke’s name, Clarke escaping the Mountain with Anya - a grounder general - Ark guards shooting at her and Clarke, killing Anya and almost doing the same to Clarke and the grounders taking Kane and Jaha hostage, the grounders’ commander decided that we needed to leave her lands which, rightfully, we did invade. Meanwhile, we got Lincoln back. He was turned into a Reaper by the  _ maunon _ and someone, came up with the brilliant idea that they were drugging them to do it, so Abby and Clarke tried to bring Lincoln back. When Clarke realised we might have something to offer the grounders so they would stop hunting us down and let us stay, she went to see the Commander.” Octavia then looked at Clarke, for her to continue.

 

“I met up with Lexa in her tent, she was surrounded by guards, anyway, she threatened us, I offered an alliance, by telling her we could cure the Reapers, she told me I would have the alliance if I could prove that I could cure the Reapers. So we gave her proof, and Octavia her boyfriend back.”

 

“She was a true visionary, I am so sorry for your loss, Clarke, truly.” said Marcus. Callie was still interested in the rest of the story.

 

“How did you end up with the Commander after though?”

 

“We tried to fight the mountain together, but she was offered something she couldn’t refuse, she was offered to take all of her people unharmed, and as long as they left the mountain men alone, they would remain so, otherwise, they would kill all those trapped inside the mountain. There were hundreds of them, less than 50 of us, it was a no brainer, I would have taken the deal as well, but back then, I felt so betrayed. After we ended the mountain, I led the others back to Camp Jaha, and left, I was on my own for three months, but then Lexa had Roan, then the banished Prince of  _ azgeda _ and later, their King, bring me to her, so the Ice Nation’s Queen couldn’t kill me, for my ‘powers’.”

 

“Powers?”

 

“The grounders believe that when you kill someone, you get their power, and I killed three hundred of their warriors with fire, and then I killed all of the mountain men, they called me  _ wanheda _ . The Commander of Death.”

 

“They called you that?” Callie looked at her niece with surprise.

 

“Yes, and Lexa brought me to  _ polis _ their capital so she could protect me, but I was so angry at her, I almost killed her, I had a knife to her throat, and all she said was, ‘I never meant to turn you into this’. With time I forgave her and learned to deal with what I have done, but acting as ambassador to our people and spending so much time with her, it reminded me how and why I trusted her the first time around, and how much I cared about her.”

 

“You held a knife to the Commander’s neck and lived to tell the tale?” asked Octavia, her tone betraying her surprise.

 

“There wasn’t anyone there to witness it happening, Octavia. We were alone, and she could have stopped me at any given time, of that I’m sure.” said Clarke, trying hard not to glare at the girl who kept criticizing her at every turn.

 

“Would you two stop it already?!” exclaimed Raven, and the rest jumped in surprise. “Octavia, you are acting like a five year old that didn’t get his way, whatever happened to make you this mad at Clarke, get over it, all right?! And Clarke, stop acting like the victim, you aren’t one, and looking at you saying sorry with your eyes every time O is looking at you sideways is making me nauseous.”

 

Nathan, Monty, John and Harper quickly got over their surprise and started roaring with laughter, it was such a typical behavior for Raven, but they missed it, they missed a lot of things.

 

“She betrayed us! All of us! She chose  _ polis  _ over us!”

 

“Get over it! You would have done the same, in fact, I’m pretty sure you already did!” said Raven, her arms waving wildly around her.

 

“Didn’t we all, though? We all chose to stay loyal to the coalition despite it making our lives in Arkadia much harder.” said Harper quietly, reminded them all of their alliance to the Commander and her people.

 

“So basicly, Clarke fell for the leader of all grounders, Octavia fell to another grounder and there was a war, and you lost?” asked Callie for clarification.

 

Sinclair nodded at her question. “It was a war alright, but what started it is the real story.”

 

“We were looking for Clarke the entire three months she was gone, search parties and scouts, we even had help from the grounders to look for her, on one of those missions we entered Ice Nation lands, we found a signal with Ark markers, we found the remains of Farm station, 63 of them were left. Led by Charles Pike, they must have suffered much by the Ice Nation's’ hands, because when we got to them, Charles philosophy was that ‘the only good grounder, is a dead grounder’. We brought them to the mountain, we didn’t have enough space for them in Arkadia, it was a temporary solution, we knew that the grounders won’t take it well, but they wanted to stay, they were never there for what the mountain men did, they never suffered there, watched people die and others being drilled into as the screamed for mercy. Anyway, we were called to  _ polis _ for a summit, to declare peace and maybe make some trade agreements. When we got there, we were informed that Clarke was there, and she met us there.”

 

Clarke took over for Marcus. “I told them that the Commander was going to offer us a place in her coalition and that it would be for the best if we took the offer, and that was a time I was still very angry at her. During the ceremony to accept us into the coalition, Bellamy, Octavia and Pike barged in, they were led there by an  _ azgeda gona _ that Bellamy helped in the mountain, and trusted. Instead of attacking the summit, they attacked Mount Weather. 49 of the remaining Farm Station survivors died there, in fact -”

 

“Raven and I were the only ones who made it out of the mountain alive that night, among the people who died inside the mountain was Gina Martin, Bellamy’s girlfriend.” said Sinclair.

 

“He blamed himself for her death, he was devastated.” Marcus ran a hand through his hair, which unlike his time on Earth, was slicked back.

 

“It doesn’t matter, what matters is what he did after.” said Octavia, anger in her voice.

 

“The Commander sent a peace force to protect us from the Ice Nation.” said Nathan. “300 warriors. In the middle of the night, Pike, Bellamy, Hannah Green and another eight people sneaked out and killed them all in their sleep.”

 

“Not all of them” said Octavia, seething. “They left Indra alive so she could send the Commander a message. They were going to kill so many people, they left so many bodies, people who were there to protect us.”

 

“ _ Hakeldama _ .” said Clarke, and Octavia looked at her in surprise.

 

“What?” asked Callie when she heard her niece speak and failed to understand, the others were just as confused.

 

“It means field of blood. A massacre. In  _ trigedasleng _ ”

 

“Trigedasleng?” asked Callie.

 

“The language the grounders use, It’s a form of bastardized English.” contributed Marcus.

 

“Where did you learn that word?” asked Harper.

 

“She said it as we found the bodies, and kept muttering it under her breath as we moved the bodies.”

 

“She?” asked Callie.

 

“The Commander, we were on our way to Arkadia when we found the warriors.”

 

“You were really close to her.”

 

“We worked well together, we always did, this is why I fell for her so easily, she always treated me as her equal, she saw me as her equal, she respected me, and she believed in me. It was more than what my own mother was willing to give me.”

 

“And you know how to speak their language?” asked Callie.

 

“Most of us know some of it, to be able to get by, not all grounders speak English.” said Harper and Sinclair chuckled.

 

“Found that out the hard way…” he said, blushing from embarrassment.

 

“Clarke and Octavia probably speak it best, Kane is a close second, I think.” said Raven.

 

“We all had someone to actually want us to speak  _ trigedasleng _ , the rest learned it from necessity after the mountain fell, we already began learning it as we prepared for the attack.” said Clarke.

 

“When you said she respected you, Clarke, you meant something else, what was it?” asked Callie, always in tune with Clarke’s feelings.

 

“She understood.” said Clarke but didn’t elaborate, Octavia scuffed.

 

“Understood what?” asked Nathan.

 

“Me. After the mountain -”

 

“Where she betrayed us!” growled Octavia.

 

“She betrayed me! And I forgave her, Octavia, because I would have done the same! She protected her people, as she should have, but after what I did, after the three months I spent in the forest, she never pushed, once I agreed to see her, she told me that I was in danger, and I held a knife to her neck, and she stood there, and she was still looking at me as if I had every right to kill her, and she said she was sorry, after that, sometimes, when I would wake up screaming, she would be there, she would just sit there on the chair in the other side of the room and watch me as I tried to sleep again, and if I couldn’t, I would sit up and all that she would do is hand me a book and light a few candles. She never pushed me to speak, to forgive myself, to get over what I have done, she knew it would stay with me, and she knew that I didn’t want to forget, because forgetting meant -”

 

“Turning into the monsters you killed.” ended Monty. Both he and Clarke had tears in their eyes.

 

“You did what had to be done.” said Kane “They were about to kill us all, and they wouldn’t have stopped killing until they killed all the grounders as well.”

 

“They wouldn’t have.” murmured Clarke, and the others looked at her with confusion.

 

“Of course they would have!” said Harper, remembering the blank faces of the doctors that drilled into her bones with no remorse.

 

“They would have tried,” corrected Clarke, “but the  _ trikru _ weren’t the only ones out there, there are 12 gounder clans, and there are the clanless, and there’s us. Even if we were wiped out. There were just over 300 mountain men, 26 of them children, another few dozens were elders, there are tens of thousands of the  _ trikru _ alone. And the  _ azgeda _ are almost as big a clan as the  _ trikru _ . And those are the clans who suffered most from the mountain. Mount Weather might have had the technology and the ammunition, but they wouldn’t have had the manpower needed to destroy the clans altogether. They would have lost the fight very quickly. Besides, what good can weapons do when you can’t see your enemy?”

 

“They have missiles.” said Nathan.

 

“They had 10 of those before  _ tondisi _ , and no way to make more. They would have destroyed 10 densely populated areas, and then what? There are more than that just in a 50 mile radius from the mountain, and  _ polis _ , the capital itself, is not only a couple of days’ journey from the mountain, it’s also the home of more than ten thousand people, the have more guests in the city each day of the year than there are mountain men.”

 

“They have so many people?” asked Callie, and Marcus nodded.

 

“They never had the need to restrict population, in fact, I’m sure they encouraged it in the years after the bombs,” he said and Callie nodded. It made sense, they didn’t have the same problems with resources as the Ark.

 

“As enlightening as this conversation is,” started Callie. “It still doesn’t answer the question of how we all got here?”

 

“We died.” said John, so bluntly it made the others flinch.

 

“Yeah, that much we all get, Murphy,” said Raven “I think she meant how did we get to the past -”

 

“Well your guess is as good as ours, we have no idea what the hell happened to bring us all back to the past!” said Octavia.

 

“As difficult as it is to talk about it, this is not what I meant.” said Callie, she took a deep breath and continued. “I meant to ask how did all of you die?”

 

There was only silence after Callie uttered her question.

 

Raven was the first one to speak up again, her own story spilling from her lips.

 

“I took the chip Jaha gave me, I was under ALIE’s influence, I soon realised what it did before and what it wanted to do again, and I tried to free myself from the chip. I found a way to distract myself from the AI, and the others found out that I was trying to get the chip out of me, and they tried to help, but by the time they got to me, it was too late, ALIE waited for me to get too tired to keep fighting her control and took over my body. I don’t know how I died, I just know that it was her doing.”

 

“She slit your wrists and bashed your head on metal repeatedly.” said Monty, his voice small and tears starting to gather in his eyes. Nathan warped his arms around Monty and let the boy cry into his shoulder.

 

“Jasper killed Monty and Harper,” said Nathan. “He was under the influence of ALIE as well, he stabbed Monty with a screwdriver to stop him from creating a way for us to disengage the chips and then killed Harper when she didn’t let him through to the workshop, where Sinclair was working on the radio and I was guarding him. Didn’t do us much good though.”

 

“Not long after Jasper killed Monty and Harper, Emerson showed up, he wanted revenge.” said Sinclair, and Callie looked confused.

 

“Emerson?”

 

“The last of the mountain men, I should have killed him when I had the chance, back in  _ polis _ .” seethed Clarke.

 

“Why didn’t you?” asked Harper.

 

“I begged the Commander to consider  _ jus nou drein jus daun _ , I couldn’t hold myself to a different standard.” said Clarke

 

“Juice no drain juice done?” asked Callie, confused.

 

“ _ Trigedasleng _ for ‘Blood Must Not Have Blood’, it used to be  _ jus drein jus daun _ , ‘Blood Must Have Blood’. ” said Octavia.

 

“What did Emerson do?” asked Monty.

 

“He cut Sinclair open and when I wouldn’t tell him shit, he shot me.” said Nathan, Clarke was seething on the inside, she should have known he would come looking for revenge.

 

“Pike executed Lincoln.” said Octavia and Clarke gasped in surprise. “Just as he was about to shoot him, I ran towards them. I tried to stop him, but it was too late, Pike pulled the trigger on Lincoln and one of his guards pulled the trigger on me.”

 

“Oh god! Octavia, I am so- so sorry.” said Clarke, she tried to reach out and place a comforting hand on the young girl’s arm, but Octavia avoided her and rose to her feet, moving to sit a little bit farther away, making Clarke’s heart clench painfully in her chest.

 

“After Jaha took over Arkadia, he made his way to  _ polis _ , but before that, he tried to give everyone the chips. Those who refused to take them were killed on the spot.” Marcus said no more, but it was obvious what happened to him.

 

“Clarke and I left  _ polis _ after the Commander’s death, but instead of leaving for the blockade, Clarke led us to this clearing in the forest around the city -”

 

“The Night Grove, it’s where the  _ natblida _ train.”

 

“ _ Natblida _ ?” asked Harper.

 

“Nightbloods, they are trained from childhood, after the Commander’s death, they fight in the Conclave for the title.” answered Clarke.

 

“It’s really weird, they have black blood and everything!” said John, and then continued, while the others took a few moments to take in what he just said. “Anyway, when we got there, there was this ceremony, Baldy was standing in the middle and there were nine children around him, and this creepy teenager that had those facial scars, they were all holding weapons and Clarke just walked in and pulled a dagger at Baldy then she hit him somewhere on the back of his neck, he went down like a bag of stones, it was awesome! So she goes in there and calls Baldy out, then she called for the cute blonde kid, I think he was the oldest after the creepy teen, and said something about him being the Commander’s favourite, then she cut his neck open and put the ‘Commander’s Spirit’ inside of him. Then Baldy woke up from whatever Clarke did to him and stabbed her in the back. I made it to the outer woods, but some grounders found me and killed me once they realised I was  _ skaikru. _ ”

 

“Wait, put the Spirit in? How?” asked Octavia.

 

“It’s a chip, An AI, I think, but one that needs a living person to actually work.” said Clarke.

 

“I think it came from the same place the City of Light did.” said John “they both had the same logo on them, that infinity sign.”

 

“Infinity sign?” said Callie. “Wasn’t that Polaris’ logo?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stay strong and proud.
> 
> maunon - Mountain men  
> azgeda - Ice Nation  
> wanheda - Commander of Death  
> azgeda gona - Ice Nation warrior  
> hakeldama - Field of blood  
> trigedasleng - The grounders native language, a bastardized form of English  
> trikru - Woods Clan  
> tondisi - Ton DC (trikru village located over the ruins of Washington DC)  
> jus nou drein jus daun - Blood must not have blood  
> jus drein jus daun - Blood must have blood  
> natblida - Nightbloods  
> skaikru - Sky People


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So when I sat down to write this chapter, this was not planned.  
> Just saying.

“Polaris? The thirteenth station? What does it have to do with anything?” asked Raven.

 

John shifted in his seat, causing the others to look at him, making it clear that he had something to say.

 

“John, sweetie,” Clarke’s smile was so saccharine John feared he might get cavities. “Talk.”

 

Nathan, Monty and Harper struggled to keep from laughing, while Raven was turning her eyes from John to Clarke and then back again, in shock.

 

“When Baldy took me in, and by took me in - I mean tortured me - he held me in this room, in the middle of it, there was an escape pod the name Polaris on the doors, but it was partially burnt off, I think this is where they got the name  _ polis _ and it was set up like a shrine, really, for all their aversion of technology, they literally worship it! And the walls. Let me tell you about the walls, they were painted, with sort of a timeline? I think so, anyway, there was this woman, standing above a painting of a mushroom cloud, pretty sure it represents someone who watched the world blowing up from space, and then there was like a ball of fire coming closer to Earth, and another of the same woman and others gathering around her, then there was this gear symbol thing and the infinity sign underneath it.”

 

Clarke snatched one of the tablets on the table before her and opened the drawing app. She didn’t have to think too much to draw an exact replica to the small gear that Lexa wore between her eyes. It was etched into her memory, much like the rest of her. She pushed the tablet into John’s hands and pointed at the drawing sharply.

 

“This gear?” she asked, and John nodded, raising his brows.

 

“Yeah, this is it. Why?”

 

“This is the Commander’s gear, she wears it on her forehead,” Clarke points to the exact place the gear is usually placed at, and continues. “Right here, she almost never takes it off. I think it the equivalent of a crown or something like that.”

 

“She didn’t wear it when I saw her.” said John, and Clarke blushed at the teasing look he was giving her. “Must have been some interesting ‘Goodbye’ you were - doing?”

 

“ _ Shof op! _ ” blushed Clarke, “She once told me that in times of war and when she was touring the clans, she never took it off, even to shower and sleep. It’s the one way to recognize her as  _ heda _ since photographs were a thing of the past and sitting down for a portrait of her to be made was a waste of time, since she could have been killed very quickly after her conclave and replaced by another commander.”

 

“She told you that?” asked Nathan, “that’s a bit morbid, isn’t it?”

 

“She was raised to view death as something inevitable, in fact, she was sure she won’t make it into adulthood, she was the least promising  _ natblida _ in her novitiate class, according to Titus, or Baldy, as John is so fond of calling him.”

 

“How did she become the Commander is she was the least promising?” asked Callie and Clarke was quick to answer.

 

“They underestimated her willingness to do what must be done, they saw the young child infatuated with a pretty girl, after being taught all their lives that love was weakness, and besides, by the time they returned to  _ polis _ for the conclave she was Anya’s second for a few years, and Anya is a great teacher even if her methods are not… conventional.”

 

“I thought that Lexa was like, the ultimate warrior.” said Monty, and Clarke nodded,

 

“She is, she is a brilliant fighter, but as a child, as far as I understood, she was very small, and size matters in battle, but not as much as quick thinking and flawless movement, She came back a teenager, after leaving as a small child, she grew up, and she was taught by someone who wasn’t willing to give up on her. Lexa told me that when she came back, there was only one officiate that was a better fighter than her, but she wasn’t willing to do what it took to become  _ heda _ , she ran, and Lexa won.”

 

“So the Commander won on a technicality.” smirked Octavia, she never liked the Commander much. Clarke rolled her eyes.

 

“There isn’t a technicality, Octavia, the conclave itself is a test, They fight the people they called brothers and sisters to the death, those who cannot, either run or die, the only difference in Lexa’s conclave was that after it was over, she ordered that Luna, the one that ran, was to be left alone.”

 

“Luna? The  _ floudonkru _ leader?” croaked Octavia, remembering Lincoln’s words about his longtime friend, who, according to him, would be willing to take anyone in as long as they were done fighting.

 

Octavia never got her answer, because Raven rose to her feet, walked the short distance to Octavia’s seat and slapped the back of her head. Hard.

 

“I am sick and tired of your whining, O, you gotta GROW UP!”

 

Octavia looked at Raven, wide eyed and mouth wide open in surprise.

 

John and Clarke laughed out loud while the others at least tried to hide their chuckles behind fake coughs, unsuccessfully.

 

“Alright! That’s enough!” called Callie, making a gesture for Raven to get back to her seat. “We agreed to meet here today, not only to tell our stories, but because Raven said she has news for us all.”

 

Raven took the signal and started tapping on the same tablet Clarke used to draw the Commander’s gear on. A couple of minutes later the entertainment system’s screen lit and a screenshot of the Ark’s blueprints was shown.

 

“So… there are some unused areas in the in between levels of the Ark, places that are not easy to access or that the doors are jammed or the heating system is shot, things like that. Some of those places are also a great place to leave scraps, since almost no one could get to them, until me, that is. Well, since we all know how hard it was to get around on Earth, no offence Callie, and what a workout everything is, I decided that since we have time until we go back down, we will use the time well this time, so yours truly has prepared a training area!” Raven filled them in gleefully.

 

“The entrance is right behind MedBay. So even Clarke can get there easily enough without raising suspicion, and it has everything we need! I built us some running tracks, weightlifting machines and a climbing area, that goes into the actual air ducts on the higher level, so you better keep quiet if you use it, and a sparring area like we had on the ground, with the wooden dummy, but ours is metal, so make sure to wrap your knuckles before you go at it.”

 

Sinclair looked at Raven with pride and Monty looked curiously at the tablet she left on the table in the middle.

 

“Did you hack into the Ark’s mainframe for these?” he asked and Raven grinned and nodded,

 

“Wasn’t very hard, in the old world I had access to all this, I just hacked one of the engineering users that I already knew about and everything else was there at my fingertips, and by hacked I meant that I used Wick’s user since I already knew the password.”

 

“Kyle Wick?” asked Callie and Raven nodded.

 

“My ex, well, in the old world. Anyway, to get there, you will need to get to the hatch right behind the MedBay’s storage room, on your right there will be a hatch leading to a stairwell, three floors down, it’s the one you need. Go in there, it’ll be a little tight to you grown up,” she nodded to Callie, Marcus and Sinclair “but it should be fine, remember, as long as you are on the lower floor you’re golden, but the two upper floors, which have the climbing wall and some of the weight machines, are not as soundproof as the first floor and also much closer to general population.”

 

“You really think that exercising is what we need to focus on right now? There are so many things we should be planning and checking and -” Callie was cut off by Sinclair.

 

“There is only so much we can plan for so long in advance, but the kids are right, we better be in a good shape when we land on the ground, we can do nothing now, but make sure we are strong enough physically to survive on the ground, last time we nearly lost a third of those who landed from exhaustion, Body strength is important on the ground, what good would we be if we can’t even get from the landing site to the nearest village, or nearest shelter?”

 

“Besides,” said Raven, “it would help some of us -” she looked pointedly at Octavia “to get over themselves.”

 

“Okay, it’s getting late,” said Marcus, and rose to his feet. “Nathan, help Octavia get back to er room. Monty watch out for them. John, Harper, I’m trusting the two of you to make it back without getting into too much trouble. Clarke, you are more than welcome to stay, your father said he will drop by later, it’ll be less suspicious if you waited for him before getting back to your room. Sinclair -”

 

“I’ve got Raven, don’t worry.” Sinclair smiled and ruffled Raven’s dark locks. She glared at him playfully.

 

Everyone dispersed rather quickly after that, and while Clarke was sad to see them go, she knew now that she wasn’t alone, and settled on the couch on her own, while Callie sat in front of her on one of the armchairs, and Marcus claimed the other, the three of them just sat there, reveling in the quiet understanding, in the knowledge that there were no secrets between them, after the long months of deceit.

 

It took about 40 minutes before there was a knock on the door, the sound muted and metallic, reminding Clarke that it would be years yet before she would hear the sound of knuckles on wood once again.

 

Marcus opened the door, greeting his friend and leading him to the same couch Clarke was sprawled on.

Jake smiled at his daughter, glad to see her relaxed and resting, she was having a tough time in the past few months and he had no idea how to help her, and right now, before him, she was calmer than she was in weeks.

 

“Hey kiddo!” he said softly, stroking her hair away from her eyes as they fluttered open and Clarke smiled sleepily at her father, she was on the verge of sleep, but as the past few months have taught her, that doesn’t mean she would have fallen asleep so easily.

 

“Dad” she murmured as she sat up, running her hand in her hair, rubbing her eyes softly with her fist, she patted the space she left open, and Jake took the invitation and sat down.

 

“Sorry we can’t stay long,” he told Marcus and Callie, “but Abby is waiting for us at home.”

 

“Of course. How was it?” asked Marcus, and Jake looked at his friend with tired eyes.

 

“He refused, again. I told him that if we keep it up, there would be nothing we can do to fix it, but he said that telling the rest of my team might bring unnecessary panic, so I told him that the panic might not be unnecessary if we don’t fix the systems soon.”

 

“Thelonious would do anything to keep the chancellor’s seat.” said Callie in disappointment, he used to be their friend.

 

“Power like that, it can corrupt.” said Jake as he leaned back into the couch tiredly. “The oxygen system though, it doesn’t care who’s in charge, it could fail anytime anyway.”

 

“He’s playing with fire, but there’s nothing more we can do. You said we would have a couple more years before the system would collapse completely, right?” asked Marcus.

 

“A couple of years before it completely collapses, Marcus, not before it starts.” said Jake rubbing his stubbled face with the palms of his hands to keep awake.

 

“How long then?” asked Clarke and Jake jumped slightly, he had forgotten his daughter was awake, he looked at her worriedly, but her face were the example of calm and her eyes searched his, goading him to tell her the truth. He always knew his daughter was an old soul, and that she would do anything to help others, but as he looked at his daughter’s eyes right in that moment, he didn’t just see an old soul, but lifetime of pain and understanding.

 

“About a year before it would start failing, for a few months we would still be able to fix the problems as they come up, but then we won’t and the system would keep failing. We need to try and fix it now, or everything would be for nothing, everything I’ve done since I came back -”

 

“Came back? Jake what are you talking about?” asked Marcus. Suddenly Clarke was much more alert and Callie looked at her best friend’s husband carefully, her eyes widened.

 

“Jake, how long? What do you remember last?”

 

“No! No! He can’t! He didn’t!” Clarke jumped to her feet and started pacing, mumbling to herself in panic, Jake’s eyes keeping watch over her, worriedly.

 

“What are you talking about, Callie?”

 

“Jake, what is the last thing you remember from the old world?”

 

Clarke stopped pacing, tears running down her cheeks like waterfalls, eyes staring hard at her father. Jake swallowed deeply, looked down at his lap, and then raised his head and looked at his daughter. His eyes boring into her’s.

 

“Space.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know.  
> What the fuck...
> 
> shof op! - Shut up! / be quiet  
> natblida - Nightblood  
> heda - Commander  
> floudonkru - Boats Clan


	5. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Truthfully, this Chapter was written at the same time Chapter 1 was, and they are as of right now, still the crowned glory of everything I've ever written.  
> I can honestly say I am proud to present you some of my best works.  
> Enjoy, and remember, feedback is always appreciated.

Dull pain in her upper abdomen was remnant in her mind as she woke up in her own warm, wood-framed bed. Looking down on her own body, she noticed the glaring absence of the bullet wound that was there moments before. She looked around her, confused, last she remembered, she was laying on the metal-framed bed in the guestroom closest to her own bedroom, bleeding, looking into the most beautiful pair of eyes she had ever seen, whispering her last words to her lover, the betrayal of her teacher more painful than the injury that finally took her life.

 

She was awake, she was alive, and she was alone in her bedroom. Rising carefully from the bed, hand running on the top of the footboard, skimming along unlit candles and groves created in the decades old bed, created by the many that came before her, and probably, some of her own making. Looking around, she noticed that while nothing was truly out of place, her old sword, the one that she lost to the  _ pauna _ was sheathed in it’s scabbard, hung down from the hanger on the inside of the open door of her wardrobe. She continued looking around searchingly as she made her way to the bathroom to the right of her bed. Feet bare and only her nightgown covering her, she stepped into the rather warm chamber, which was strange by itself, despite the best of efforts to seal this chamber to the effects of the winter weather, it was never truly draftless, and for this late into the cold season, the room was never this warm, not even while the fire was lit, which it was not.

 

The many strange sights that greeted her since she woke could not amount to the surprise that awaited her as she stepped in front of the mirror, the dim light just enough to see clearly and not burn her still sensitive eyes.

 

She looked so young, not yet a woman, but no longer a child either. It had been years since she looked at her face and saw them peering back at her, smooth and lacking the roughness created by a lifetime of frowns and not nearly enough smiles.

 

Dazed by her own reflection, she washed and dressed quickly, brushing her hair as she walked back to her bedroom, sitting on the armchair just as three strong and quick knocks cut the silence she was surrounded by since she woke.

 

“ _ komba raun _ ” one of her handmaidens came in, but she was one that she lost all too long ago, to childbirth and family life. Looking at her a little closely, she noticed a slight roundness to her belly, and her hand hovering near her lower abdomen unintentionally, as if protecting the unborn child. She suddenly realised that it was exactly that, unborn. She was in the past, and by the looks of it, she was back to the last days before the forming of the coalition, or more likely, just before  _ azgeda _ joined. Just after Costia’s head was delivered to her bed. Which explained a lot about the handmaiden’s careful approach. She remembered being very quick to anger in the early days after Costia’s death, she sat still as the woman approached, nodding softly at her as she took the brush that sat on the table before her and moved quickly behind her, brushing and parting the chestnut curls, braiding them, preparing her for the day. 

 

As her hair was being done, she thought about the last few months of her life, her loyal advisors falling either in battle, or by failing to trust her to protect them and herself. She was truly alone once again, Never again would she be able to trusty her oldest advisor and teacher, never again would she look at her own personal guard the same again. Her lover dead, and the only woman she ever saw as her equal was miles away, up in the sky, knowing nothing about what awaits her here on the ground.

 

It was late morning by the time she made it to the throne room, her back straight and chin held high. She imagined she was much calmer than what her people expected her to be, she had years now, to overcome the grief that followed Costia’s death. She had years, and she had her other half, to help her find meaning to her life once again.

 

Walking up the stairs that led to the throne, she turned back to the room, in the chairs spread around the chamber, sat not the ambassadors, but the leaders of the clans. Out of the eleven clans that made her coalition at this time, only one clan leader was missing. Many had speculated many times, about the whereabouts of the Boats clan leader, but she, true to her word, to her last breath, had promised to never speak of their leader’s origins, nor would she ever reveal that she was among the very small circle of outsiders that knew exactly where the Boats clan truly came from, and how to get there.

 

The clan leaders and ambassador all stood at attention as she turned to face them, her knees touching her throne only slightly. Around them all, stood warriors and advisors from each clan, and  another chair, 12th in number, sat as far as it could be from her own throne, intended to be of use from tonight onwards, or never at all.

 

“ _ Mounin _ ” her greeting as short and blunt as possible, she takes her sit as the clan leaders and ambassador follow her example, leaving the advisors and warriors to stand guard around them.

 

She looked at the people around her, knowing that despite her many advances for peace, in a few short years they would once again go to war, their culture and people alike, calling for blood to be spilt. She weighted her next words carefully, switching to English, aware that the many inflections of  _ trigedasleng _ among the clans may cause some misunderstanding, but the English taught to their warriors was as uniform as an ancient language can be.

 

“ We have gathered here today, to witness the induction of  _ azgeda _ into our coalition.” many grimaced and some even had the audacity to scoff at her words, but none were as bold as to try and overthrow her. Her eyes like a frozen forest, her voice dripping with rage, her body tense, but her expression gave nothing away, she was relaxed and ready, she already knew how this would end.

 

“  _ heda- _ ” a bald, tall man stepped up on the first stair of her dias, Titus, she nearly flinched visibly but held herself back just in time, her abdomen contracting almost painfully as she turned to face the man who ultimately became her demise.

“ _ haiplana kom azgeda ste hir _ ”

 

She nodded, she had nothing to say, Titus gestured to the guards to let the Ice Nation delegation in.

 

Stepping confidently to the middle of the room, was Nia, her smirk evident to all. She thought she won, she hadn’t just yet.

 

“  _ mounin, azgeda gon ai hou _ ” her words seem to have an effect on the people around her, they all expected angry words, threats, something to show for her despair, but she was no longer desperate for revenge, she had hers in another life. This time, she was playing the long game, she knew a time would come, when Nia would no longer be, and there would be peace. She would have peace.

 

As all around her settled from the surprise that took hold of them, she gazed at the woman that tried time and time again, in this life and the one before, to take everything she ever had from her. Her cool eyes following the woman as she took her place in the center of the chamber, holding her head high, as if to convey the queen was proud of her deeds, and she had no doubt that she was. After all,  _ haiplana nia kom azgeda _ was not one to feel remorse.

 

Looking closely at the delegation before her, she noticed the face she would see, in the back of the delegation, he stood slightly at the back, his back hunched and his face black and blue. He was hurt before he came here. She expected this much, in her last life, she learned not long after this very meeting why she had never seen him again until he showed up in  _ polis _ asking for sanctuary or pardon, whatever she would be willing to give. Going against the Ice Nation’s queen orders was a brave yet foolish act. Knowing this, he refused to kill her lover, knowing that the young woman had done nothing to deserve such fate. He was here so the queen could save face, of this she was sure, without her only heir by her side, Nia would lose some of the support she had gathered from the other clans, for they had found the man, much more sane and reasonable than the mother.

 

“Today, you will kneel before your commander.” she addressed the queen, knowing that the mere thought of falling to her knees in front of her would hurt the queen. She let a small smirk take over her lips before continuing her address.

“But not before you will admit to your crimes and tell me, what would you bring to this alliance.” her smirk grew, she was now almost grinning at the woman and the delegation she brought with her.

“Tell me, Nia” she had no wish to speak to the woman as if she was worthy of her title. “Tell me why I should not just strike you where you stand, and lead my armies to slaughter your people, as you have done to mine?”

 

Nia finally looked shaken, she did not expect her to be so blunt. Almost stuttering, but not quite there, the  _ haiplana kom azgeda _ opened her mouth and for the first time since entering the chamber, she spoke.

 

“Commander” the disdain soured her address but she did not mind it, better for the queen to hate her, than to take her too seriously, she knew that she still had a few surprises up her sleeve, now that she knew what the Ice Nation’s greatest secret was, she was ready.

“Our only crime was to take back what was ours,  _ trikru _ forces had invaded our lands -”

Lies,  _ trikru _ had not stepped a foot out of their borders into  _ azgeda _ lands since the coalition first formed, it had been a way to reassure  _ azgeda _ supporters that she did not intend to create this coalition for the sole purpose of defeating  _ azgeda _ and their massive army.

She let the queen continue with her lies. She was sure many had believed the queen, why would she lie, they would ask themselves, she was already granted pardon and offered a place in the commander’s allegiance, she had no reason to. No reason but to gather favor within the other clans, that is.

“Among the invading parties, was the commander’s lover, she came with the last few parties, riding at the front - “ more lies, it wasn’t well known, for protection reasons, but Costia was an awful rider, many thought that the reason she always rode with her was that she held a special place in her heart, and she did, but it wasn’t very comfortable to ride for hours on end with another rider on a saddle meant for one.

“We were only protecting our lands and our lives. After the battles with the  _ trikru _ parties, all that was left of the commander’s lover was her head, we sent it to her, so she could burn it, to release her lover’s soul from this world, to find the next.” the queen kept reminding the members of the coalition that it were  _ trikru  _ forces that invaded her lands, was she really so rushed to torture Costia that she had not noticed the marking on her shoulders and back? Had she been so rushed to know her secrets to notice that her beloved had carried the marks of the  _ floudonkru _ ? Another reason to why Costia was never beloved by her people, why Titus always despised her, why Gustus was never very trusting of her, and why Anya and Luna had so much to tease her for.

 

She let it go, relaxing further into her throne, looking through her long lashes at the queen and her people, standing tall where they should be one their knees and groveling for her forgiveness.

 

“Kneel before me,  _ haiplana nia kom azgeda _ , and you will never be my enemy again.” Unless she breaks the coalition first, that is.

The queen was first to kneel, slowly, her eyes locking with the commander to the last second before bowing her head, the rest of the delegation dropping quickly after their queen. The last to follow was the prince, his eyes catching her, a look of understanding passes between them, he knows, and she remembers. She, for the first time, had an ally in  _ azgeda _ one that might even be able to help her, one that would be willing to help her. He then dropped to his knees, his eyes to the floor, his body relaxed, he gave himself to her, trusted her as his leader. When the time comes and Nia is no longer,  _ azgeda _ would be loyal to their commander.

 

“Rise,  _ azgeda _ .” her words are calm and clear in the almost silent room. “Take your place among the clans, and let us begin.” the queen walked confidently to her chair and her son stood to her right, the rest of the delegation cleared the middle of the room and joined the others at the wings.

 

The meeting took a long time, drafting new contracts and settling old disputes takes time, the sun was long gone by the time they were done, and as the people left the chamber, she called for Titus, he may no longer be trustworthy, but he did not know that just yet.

 

“  _ konge onya op _ ” and as an afterthought she added “  _ en hainofa roan kom azgedakru _ ” surprise filtered into Titus face, but she had already had her back to him, before he could speak, signaling the man that she was not interested in his words for now.

 

It didn’t take long, obviously as both Anya and Roan were housed at the tower, they stood before her, eyes searching her and each other, no one spoke, afraid to say something that might endanger their position.

 

“  _ heda? _ ” Anya was the first to speak, she had an unfamiliar look in her eyes. Roan was next.

“  _ leksa? _ ” Anya glared at the man that took such liberties with their commander, but she had much grander worries, than a prince she could count among those who have her trust calling her by her name.

 

“You have something you wish to tell me,  _ onya? _ ” if she was right, Anya would have information about the mountain, one that she would not give up the source of, one that she herself now knew, after long hours of conversation by fires, sleepless nights before battles and careful sympathy and comfort when a nightmare struck her beloved fellow leader.

 

“I have new information, regarding the  _ maun _ .” she nodded, a relieved smile gracing her face, Roan took example and relaxed as well.

 

“I am glad that you are here,  _ sis _ ” Anya looked at her with surprise that then reformed into understanding. She stared at her former second with pride and tears shining in her eyes, but her face darkened almost immediately after, she probably figured, as Lexa did, that the only way to show up here, was to die in the other world.

 

“What happened?” her question dripping with rage, she stared at her, then turned to the prince glaring and growling, the prince and the commander both shook their heads. Looking at her mentor, Lexa felt nothing but love and gratitude, knowing that despite her reservations, Anya fought for the peace that Lexa always dreamed of until her last moments.

 

“Titus disliked my decisions. He was the one to end my fight.” She began from where it all ended. Roan snorted loudly. “Disliked? He hated them, and he hated  _ wanheda _ even more. Personally, I think he was jealous.” Anya furrowed her brow.

“  _ wanheda? chon em bilaik? _ ” Anya’s surprise was evident in her question, and also understandable, this was a hefty title to carry, one very hard to achieve, and maybe also somewhat terrible to understand. Roan was quick to answer his fondness in the bearer of such title was clear, much to the surprise of Anya and Lexa’s amusement.

 

“  _ klark kom skaikru _ . She is a tough one to catch, and even harder to understand, though  _ heda _ seemed to manage just fine.” his tone light and teasing, his lips forming a smile he threw in Lexa’s direction, and she in turn, blushed lightly, to her embarrassment. Anya looked blown away by the new information that presented itself.

 

“You met the  _ skaigada _ ?” 

“  _ sha. _ She came to me with an offer I could not ignore. She is a good negotiator.” she commented absentmindedly. Roan chuckled. “And a rather relentless fighter,” he added.

Lexa looked at her mentor, Anya was shocked that much was clear, she decided to make it easier to the older woman and started from the beginning.

 

“The one they called Finn massacred 18 innocent people in  _ tondisi _ while  _ klark _ was missing, he claimed he thought the people of the town had her. He was sick in his mind, but the  _ ripa _ had to pay the price. I had two of their leaders - they lead together, they vote for their leader! - in my custody, I found out many things about them as I sat there in the cellar with them. One was clearly gone from his mind, but the other, he was a true leader, and he wanted peace, he was willing to sacrifice his own life so his people could live, even those who did not deserve such mercy.

I sent the one who tried to take me as hostage, as a message, telling  _ skaikru _ to deliver the  _ ripa _ or leave our lands, the other I kept with me. They tried to sneak the  _ ripa _ away, but the boy gave himself up.

She came to our camp, even though she knew she was in a very real danger by doing so. She stepped into my tent, injured but eyes burning. I threatened her and her people and she offered a truce, she offered knowledge. She offered to turn the  _ ripas _ back into men, she offered to help me bring down the mountain, She told me what they were doing with our people, she told me you were on your way to me, to tell me the same, when you died by the hand of  _ skaikru _ who thought the two of you were warriors coming to attack them.” Anya nodded when Lexa spoke about what Clarke had told her about Anya’s plans once the two had separated.

“We were ready to bring the mountain down, standing before it’s doors with  _ skaikru _ among us, when they offered me a deal I could not refuse. They offered to let our people go, and never try and capture us again, I was already told by  _ klark _ that they had found another way, a permanent one, to make them capable of leaving the mountain, one that was only possible with the blood of  _ skaikru _ . I knew that once they walked on the ground they would kill us all, but then they made this deal impossible to refuse. They showed me their weapons, they were all turned to our cities and villages, all set to deploy, and a sniper locked on  _ klark _ . I couldn’t let it all be for nothing, it is my duty to my people to lead them and keep them safe. So I took the deal, making me look weak, but I knew, my people would be safe,  _ klark _ would be safe, and I never doubted her ability to find another way to take her people back from the mountain, after all, it was her plan that took us to that point in the first place.”

 

Anya looked at her former second and narrowed her eyes. “  _ yu hod em in _ ” Lexa nodded at her mentor, eyes welling up, but she did not let the tears fall.

 

“She survived, and she saved her people, but she had to destroy the mountain, she killed them all, it was a price she was willing to bear for her people, but she wasn’t ready for what it meant to be seen as the one person who brought down the mountain, on her own. She ran away from Arkadia, leaving her people and surviving on her own for three months. By that time, the people heard about her actions in the mountain and about the 300 warriors who were burnt alive by her hand. They called her  _ wanheda _ and Nia had placed a bounty on her head, so I sent Roan to find her, before she fell into  _ azgeda _ hands.”

 

Roan took over from there.

“I found her in a trading post, on the border between  _ trikru _ and  _ azgeda _ lands, I think that the trader was aware of who she was and protected her. I brought her here, she fought me in every step of the way, one time, she had almost killed me, we were already on our way, deep enough into  _ trikru _ lands that we were marching distance away from  _ polis _ when we encountered  _ azgeda gonakru _ they were marching to  _ polis _ , their excuse were military drills, but we all knew better, and they were on  _ trikru _ lands, they were threatening  _ leksa _ thinking she was weak, after leaving the mountain untouched.

I think I never seen someone as angry as  _ wanheda _ when she found that I brought her before  _ leksa _ . Her calling  _ leksa _ a ‘bitch’ was the highlight of my day.”

He then turned to Lexa “Her voice carries when she’s angry.” Lexa smiled and nodded, remembering Clarke’s angry words.

“She spat at me,” she added smiling to herself. Both Anya and Roan stared at their commander in surprise.

“And lived?” Anya was confused.

“I had done ,much worse to her, I couldn’t blame her, she also tried to kill me with a knife, thank you, Roan, for providing her with one.” Roan blushed and muttered something that sounded awfully like “Lovesick fools” to the other two. Lexa blushed and Anya glared at her second.

“And she lived?” repeating her question from before, Anya raised a brow at Lexa, waiting for an answer.

“I betrayed her, my blood was hers to take.” Lexa shrugged.

“And then she bowed before you infront of everyone, making  _ skaikru _ the thirteenth clan and her their ambassador. Though I have no idea how, one second she was willing to kill you, the next, she came begging to me to throw the match.”

“Match?” asked Anya. Lexa nodded.

“The night we accepted  _ skaikru _ into the coalition, just after the ceremony ended, we were informed that  _ azgeda _ attacked  _ skaikru _ it was an act of war. I summoned the queen and she, in turn, tried to make a coup, it would have worked too, had  _ klark _ not been there as the ambassador for  _ skaikru _ . She resorted to a challenge once she realised  _ klark _ had put a stop to her plan, calling for Roan to be her champion, knowing I would never let anyone fight in my stead.”

“You killed him?” asked Anya, narrowing her eyes at the man standing beside her. Roan chuckled, still as relaxed as ever.

“No, I defeated him in  _ solo gonplei _ but instead of killing him, I killed Nia.”

“She threw a spear straight through my mother’s heart. She claimed me as the new king. Ontari fled and didn’t return until after  _ leksa _ was already dead.”

“Ontari?” asked Anya, but the two telling the story shook their heads, this was another story, for a later time.

“From there,  _ skaikru _ or at least a part of them, rebelled against their leaders and  _ klark _ killing 300 of our warriors sent to protect them, and rejecting the coalition. I had to resort to a blockade around Arkadia, after I declared that  _ jus drein, jus daun _ was no longer our way, and Titus. Titus questioned me on every step I took, blaming  _ klark _ and my feeling for her, he wanted me to kill her, so I could have her power, he wanted  _ wanheda  _ gone and dead by my hands, but her power was a myth, she came to  _ polis _ so broken I thought nothing would help, but over time, she was healing, she was opening up to me, she was going to leave for Arkadia, because of the blockade. She came to see me, to say goodbye. When she returned to her chambers before she left, Titus was waiting for her there, he had a  _ skaiskat _ bound on the floor, near her bed. He was going to kill her with a  _ fayogon _ and frame the boy. I was coming to see her one last time, when I heard the shots, I rushed into the chamber, and was hit by the bullet. She tried to stop it, to save me, but she couldn’t.”

 

“She protected you, and your legacy, even after your death.” stated Roan, clearly talking to Lexa, informing her of things she knows nothing of. “After you died, after Titus gathered the  _ natblida _ , including Ontari, she and the  _ skaiskat _ escaped her chambers, where Titus had locked them in. She didn’t let them begin with the conclave, she stopped it all, taking the  _ fleim _ from Titus and turned to Aden, she chose the next  _ heda _ it was never done before, but Titus was close enough that while she had given Aden the  _ fleim _ he stabbed her in the back. She died instantly, only hours after  _ leksa _ .” finding that he had a captivated audience, he told them of what came after.

“All the other  _ natblida  _ survived the ascension of  _ heda aiden _ , but the  _ skaiskat _ with  _ wanheda _ died in the forest around the Night Grove, trying to get her body back to their people. That night, Ontari killed them all. The  _ natblida, en heda aiden.  _ She became the only viable choice as  _ heda _ . But she never ascended. There was another threat coming from  _ skaikru _ , their people were taken by the entity that makes false promises about the  _ soncha kapa _ , and our people were dragged in as well, as well as Ontari, I know nothing more, after I refused to join them, I was executed.”

 

Lexa had a strange look in her eyes, something close to dread and laced with sorrow and fear. She knew what Roan was speaking of, all the commanders knew of the entity, of the falsehood of  _ soncha kapa _ , but before, they never had to face it, it was something their people never trusted, never tried to follow, those who did, were never found again, but she guessed that  _ skaikru _ , new to their lands and with  _ tekk _ they could only dream of, knew how to reach the source and fall for it’s promises for a better, safer life.

 

She was still for a few seconds more than what Anya and Roan were comfortable with, so the former tried to touch her arm softly, knowing she might be crossing the line. Lexa turned to her mentor, eyes clearing up. She nodded at the two, standing up from her throne, and spoke softly, her tone full of pain. She wanted to be alone, for once.

 

“  _ gon we. reshop, onya, haihefa. _ ” the two nodded and returned the farewell, leaving their leader to her thoughts.

 

In the other world, she was dead, her lover was dead, was  _ klark _ her  _ klark _ in this world now? Had she also woke up to the past she suffered so much from? Did they finally have a chance, a real one, this time, to change everything, to give their people the peace they deserved, to give  _ them _ the chance they wished for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I just realized that not everyone became fluent in Trigedasleng back in season two like I did, should I leave translations in the end of each chapter?
> 
> pauna - Gorilla  
> komba raun - Come in  
> mounin -Welcome  
> trigedasleng - The grounders native language, a bastardized form of English  
> azgeda - Ice Nation  
> heda - Commander  
> haiplana kom azgeda ste hir - The Queen of the Ice Nation has arrived.  
> mounin, azgeda gon ai hou - Welcome, Ice Nation, to my home.  
> haiplana nia kom azgeda - Queen Nia of the Ice Nation  
> trikru - Woods Clan  
> floudonkru - Boats Clan  
> konge onya op - Bring me Anya  
> en hainofa roan kom azgedakru - And Prince Roan of the Ice Nation  
> maun - Mountain (Mount. Weather)  
> sis - Sister  
> wanheda - Commander of Death  
> chon em bilaik? - Who is it? / Who are they?  
> skaigada - Sky girl  
> sha - Yes  
> tondisi - Ton DC (trikru village located over the ruins of Washington DC)  
> ripa - Murderer  
> skaikru - Sky People  
> yu hod em in - You love her  
> azgeda gonakru - Ice Nation warriors / army  
> solo gonplei - Single Combat  
> jus drein jus daun - Blood must have blood  
> skaiskat - Sky boy  
> fayogon - Firearm / Gun  
> natblida - Nightbloods  
> fleim - Flame  
> soncha kapa - City of Light  
> tekk - Technology  
> gon we. reshop onya, haihefa - Leave, goodnight Anya, King.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I left the translations at the end of last chapter (and every chapter before it...) it was... A lot... Sorry! *looking for a place to hide*  
> At least there won't be as much trigedasleng in this chapter... *looking for a place to hide chapter seven*  
> Have fun!

Clarke first words after her father’s confession were simple.

 

“I have to go.” she said and made her way out of Callie and Marcus’ quarters. Jake stood up to go after her, but a shake of Marcus’ head and a soft touch on his arm courtesy of Callie, stopped him from making that move. Clarke needed the time.

 

“She remembers?” asked Jake, moisture gathering in the corners of his eyes.

 

“She remembers.” confirmed Marcus.

 

“What is going on, Marcus, who else remembers? What do they remember?”

 

“When did you - for the lack of better terminology - wake up?” asked Marcus and Jake was quick to answer.

 

“Almost a year ago.” Marcus and Callie were stunned. Not one of them was back this long, not even Callie, who was aware for months now, wasn’t back an entire year, And more than that, Jake carried the burden on his own.

 

“Jake, you are tired,” told him Callie softly, “we have time, maybe you need to go home, sleep. We promise to fill you in as soon as you get some rest.” Jake nodded and brushed a hand through his hair tiredly, he sighed and stood up, Callie and Marcus followed, they all made their way to the front door and Jake left without so much as a goodbye.

  
  


Clarke was close to a full on run, where she was running, she had no idea, but she knew that she had to get away from that room, from her father. When she realized on what floor she was on, she made her way to the first place she thought of where she knew she wouldn’t be easily found, Raven’s training area.

 

Carefully as to not be seen, Clarke made her way to the hatch and down the stairs. She noticed that like Raven mentioned, there were three levels, and the stairs started from the hatch a little higher then the third floor proper. Clarke made her way to the third floor and sat down on the floor by the railing on the edge of the floor, overseeing the two floors below, feet dangling in the air.

 

Raven’s set up was rather impressive, she obviously thought out what they would actually need considering what they know about life on the ground. Sh thought about her father and his confession, he remembered, and the last moment he remembered must have been the most painful he would ever experience.

 

Clarke didn’t have long to wallow as a few minutes after she sat down, she heard the hatch open and soft footsteps made their way closer to her, another set of legs dangled in the air.

 

“Hey.” Clarke looked up at the sound of words being spoken softly near her, directed at her.

 

“Hi, Monty.” she returned softly, still staring ahead, thinking.

 

“What’s up?”

 

“My dad remembers,” was the only thing she blurted. Monty was taken aback by her bluntness.

 

“That’s… insane…” he said, thinking about the rest of them and what they remember, if Jake Griffin remembers even half of what they do, it must be horrible for him. “Does he remember?”

 

“Yes,” answered Clarke,

 

“That’s sick!” exclaimed Monty.

 

“Thank you, Monty, for reminding me.” said Clarke, snark coloring her voice.

 

“Sorry.” muttered Monty and held out his hand, palm facing upward, right next to Clarke’s.

 

She took his hand and held tightly.

 

“I miss her,” she said quietly, Monty squeezed her hand a little tighter.

 

“You know, I never actually met her… What was she like?”

 

“A drama queen.” joked Clarke and Monty snorted in laughter.

 

“That’s… One way to describe the Commander, who ruled over twelve clans… How did she even have time to make you fall for her?”

 

Clarke blushed and hit Monty’s shoulder lightly. “She didn’t make me fall for her, I just did.”

 

“Mmm…” nodded Monty smiling smugly, Clarke sighed deeply and continued.

 

“She was a good person, Monty, she cared so much about her people, maybe a little too much… She was raised to believe love was weakness, and that to be the commander was to be alone. Monty, the  _ natblida _ , they are taught that they are all under a death sentence from the moment they are born. This is where the drama queen comes in, she was all ready to die all the damn time! And let me tell you, having the woman you love walking into a battle for her life after telling you that it may be her time, that does nothing to comfort you!”

 

“She does sound like a classic drama queen… I gather she survived?” he quipped.

 

“She fucking annihilated him!” cried Clarke angrily. Monty laughed.

 

“So why are you yelling!?” he yelped as Clarke tried to hit him again.

 

“I don’t know.” sighed Clarke and Monty released her hand just to wrap his arms around her a moment later.

 

“It’s alright to miss her, Clarke, you love her, it’s only natural that you would think of her, and it’s been months, right? We haven’t had any contact with the ground since waking up, and I never thought I would say that, but, we all had a life down there, friends and family, that didn’t make it back, missing people means you still care…”

 

“It’s hard, though, and the thought of never seeing her again -”

 

“Woah! Who said anything about never seeing her again?” Monty held Clarke a little tighter and tried to look into her eyes, unsuccessfully, given their close quarters. “We will make it back to the ground Clarke, and if the lot of us remember, someone down there must have too. Laws of probability dude!”

 

“I don’t think they apply in this situation.”

 

“Well, I think they do… I mean, can you imagine, having to deal with Anya a second time? Or Indra? They are seriously scary. What’s with grounder woman being scary?”

 

“They are not so scary…” said Clarke, wrinkling her nose.

 

“And this is exactly why Finn once claimed you weren’t right in the head…”

 

“When did he?” asked Clarke, it was the first time she was hearing about this.

 

“It doesn’t matter! You realize you just said Anya wasn’t scary, right? Right now, I think you aren’t right in the head!”

 

“She wasn’t. Sure, she was one tough lady, but she wasn’t that scary, besides, she obviously cared about her people.”

 

“Is that a kink of yours? Caring about people? You seem to say that a lot…” Clarke blushed deeply. Monty waited for her to speak up, she mumbled something and he chuckled. “You gotta say it a little louder.”

 

“It was… not a kink, but definitely a thing, with Lexa.” now Monty was curious. “When I was still angry at her and didn’t want to admit I still cared, every time I showed any form of concern, I kept saying that I wasn’t doing it for her, that I was doing it for my people. She caught on, and after our first time… She laughed and asked me if that was for my people too. God! Monty, she had such a cute sense of humor, she was just as sarcastic as John, did you know that? She loved joking around when we were alone, she would always tease me with that sideways smile of hers. Like she knew all my secrets, fuck…” Clarke ran her hand through her hair, blowing air sharply clutching at her hair tightly for a moment and letting go. “She was my everything, for such a short time. Does it even count?”

 

“You obviously feel that it does.” he said comfortingly. “And remember what Murphy said, Clarke, she is still down there?! You. Will. See. Her. Again!” Clarke nods into his shirt, and he lets her go.

 

“Well,” he stands up. “I’m off to bed! Work detail is a killer in this young body.” he jokes and Clarke smiles. “You coming?”

 

She smiles up at him and shakes her head, “I’m going to stay here for a little longer.” Monty nods, bids her goodnight, and leaves.

 

Left alone, Clarke rises to her feet and makes her way to the bottom floor, walking up to one of the Track machines, she hops on, she misses running, given, here she won’t feel the wind rushing over her face, but at least the burning muscles would provide her with distraction.

  
  


She comes when Octavia is all alone in her family’s quarters, conveniently so. A few quick blows to the lower air duct and Octavia is ready to investigate the odd sound. She lets her in, despite the look on her face or the fact that if found by her mother or brother she would have too much to explain.

 

“It’s gotta stop.” she is serious, and the look of her face freezes Octavia, she had seen this look on her face before, it ended with a bridge blowing up.

 

“What does?” she tries. Raven is staring at her, unimpressed.

 

“Your crusade against Clarke. Octavia, what the hell is wrong with you? What did she ever did to you, except save your life, that is…”

 

“You won’t understand!”

 

“Try me!”

 

“She left me to die. She left everyone to die! It’s her fault, her’s and Lexa’s!”

 

“What is?”

 

“ _ tondisi _ . The bombing! They knew about it, they could have told everyone, but instead, they left us all to die!”

 

“I knew too. Octavia.” this stunns Octavia to silence.

 

“I know it’s hard to understand, but remember, Clarke led us for a reason, she has a tactical mind, she chose to lose that battle so she could win the war. And she did win that war.”

 

“Alone! Lexa betrayed us!”

 

“No. Lexa betrayed Clarke. Octavia, you know I’m anything but Lexa’s fan, but she did the right thing. She left to avoid bloodshed, don’t you think Clarke wouldn’t do the same if the deal was offered to us? Unfortunately, it was our bone marrow they needed, not the grounders’ but if it wasn’t?”

 

“But -!”

 

“No buts! No butts either, seriously girl, where has yours gone off to?” That made Octavia crack a smile despite the object for discussion. “Next time you try to tell Clarke off, think twice, because if I catch you, I will hit you. So hard. You will practically hear bells ringing in your ears.” Raven waits for Octavia to signal she understood the message and left as swiftly as she came. Leaving a stunned and thoughtful teen behind her.

  
  


The next morning, Clarke woke up unusually early, despite, or maybe because she stayed up late to run, and tired herself to the point where when she got back to her room and into her bed, she was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

 

She got ready quickly and snatched her morning ration from the mess hall on her way to MedBay, a little earlier than her mother. When she reached MedBay, Jackson was already there. She smiled at the young doctor as he nodded his greeting and got back to counting stocks. They didn’t have much, but it was still more than what they had on the ground when the 100 first landed and when they were hit the hardest.

 

Just as she went to help him, Abby walked into the work area and handed Clarke a tablet.

 

“I have surgery in an hour, I need Jackson with me, Warren and Rita are both down with the flu and the rest are doing rounds in the farther station, MedBay is under your authority from the moment we get into surgery, if it’s not a life and death emergency, don’t try to reach us, and even if it is, I’m sure that some of those you can handle by yourself.” and like a storm, Abby was gone the second she was done transferring the data Clarke would need for the rest of the day. Clarke stared after her mother’s retreating form for a few seconds before Jackson's chuckling brought her back to the land of the living.

 

“Congrats.” is all he had to say, chuckling as he left the main treating area of the MedBay himself.

 

The next few hours went easily enough, a few minor cases of flu which Clarke had no problem of treating and a couple of work injuries that Clarke couldn’t help but roll her eyes after, she thought of how gentle and weak most of the people on the Ark were. If one of the clansmen ever went to a healer over some of the injuries Arkers came crying to the doctors about, they would be run over with a sword by the healers themselves.

 

It was just a short time before Clarke’s lunch break when Callie entered the MedBay with her intentions clearly written all over her face. She had a smug smile and her eyes twinkled in a teasing light. She looked around her and made sure the two of them alone before she walked up to Clarke, nudged her shoulder into Clarke’s and quipped.

 

“So… Lexa was it?” Clarke sighed, she should have expected it. “So, girls… It’s a thing now? Or was it just her?” Clarke flushed red and moved around her aunt, trying to avoid the interrogation that was sure to follow.

 

Callie raised a single eyebrow in expectation. Clarke sighed once again, what was it with people and teasing her about Lexa?

 

“It’s a thing.” she mumbled, just low enough that Callie had to strain her ear to hear it. She grinned wildly at her niece.

 

“Who else? Is it Octavia? Is it why she has it in for you? No… she’s too young… Raven? Harper? Someone else?”

 

“Niylah.”

 

“Who is she? I never heard her name before… - No! Another grounder? You sure that there was any actual leading going on for you on the ground, because from what I hear, you spent your time romancing women!”

 

Clarke groaned loudly this time.

“It wasn’t like that!” she said. “Niylah was a one time thing, and even that came after I’ve known her for weeks, and Lexa, she was just… different, There wasn’t any romancing between us either, we were too in deep planing the war on the mountain, we just fell for each other during the time we spent most of our waking hours together, and sometimes our not so waking hours…”

 

“Do tell…-” Callie saw an opening for a teasing moment, but was quickly shut down by Clarke.

 

“It wasn’t like that, we were planning into the night and it was too late to make the trip to the Ark camp, so she let me sleep in her tent, she was very annoying about it too, kept shushing me, according to her though, I’m sure she would have said I was the one who bothered her sleep, I thought she was a bit of a spoilt princess, but she turned out to simply be trying to let the tension dissolve. I didn’t really give that a chance… Was back to pacing after a couple of minutes too…”

 

“She sounds like a someone with endless patience, I know how you get when you are tense, it’s like watching someone locked in a cage trying to find a way out.”

 

“She did have endless patience, Callie, she was the most compassionate person I’ve ever met! And I loved her, I truly did,” she finished quietly. She was still worried about what was going on down on the ground, “I’ve never loved anyone like I loved Lexa.”

 

“She’s still alive down there, Clarke.” reminded her Callie and Clarke’s shoulders tensed.

 

“You don’t know that. A lot of things could have gone wrong this time around.”

 

“You worry about things you cannot change, Clarke, you just have to accept that there are some things you cannot fix, some things we cannot help.” tears suddenly gathered in the corners of Clarke’s eyes, Callie was surprised at her niece’s reaction.

 

“She told me that too.” said Clarke through her tears, a small grimace in the side of her lips. “Before she went into a battle for her life. I miss her, Callie, she’s still my everything.” Now it was Callie’s turn to grimace.

 

“It sounds like a brutal world down there,”

 

“It is, but so is the Ark. we just paint it with pretty colors and death that doesn’t paint our hands red. Callie, life is brutal, we were taught that not on the ground, but the moment we were ejected from the Ark. 100 teenagers, deemed expendable enough to be sent to their death, some of us would have passed the review Callie, those that repented, those whose crimes were so minor that anywhere else won’t have even been a crime, but we were all sent to the ground together, murderers and thieves, the guilty and the innocent, if you were in the SkyBox, you were sent to the ground. How is that not brutal? Here death comes with a push of a button, there is no real value for individual lives, but down there, every life matters, some less, some more, but if you killed, the kill stained your hands red, you saw the fallout of what you have done, and the punishment was befitting the crime, there was never anyone executed for stealing food…-”

 

Clarke was about to continue, when Abby and Jackson exited the OR and started filling in the patient records on their tablets, just within earshot. Callie nodded at her childhood friend with a smile and turned to leave, just before the automatic doors opened, she turned to Clarke and said.

 

“Don’t lose hope, Kiddo, she’s probably just fine down there and you will see her, soon.” she left.

 

“Who were you talking about just now?” asked Abby, surprised to hear her daughter speak about another girl, she was well aware that both Clarke and Wells have a very hard time finding friends since they are both seen as snobs and the most privileged of the Ark’s inhabitants.

 

Clarke couldn’t tell her the truth so she told her something else. “A couple of days ago I met a girl, named Raven, she’s training to be a mechanic, or engineer, can’t remember, but she was hurt trying to fix something for her studies just as I ran into her, so I helped her out, I was just worried about her.” if she couldn’t tell the truth, at the very least she just gave herself a reason to be able to meet up with Raven on a whim.

 

“And Callie?” asked Abby.

 

“She was there with me,” shrugged Clarke, and Abby took her word for it, Clarke and Callie had weekly dates, who’s to say they didn’t encounter the girl on one of those.

  
  


That morning Jake went to work like any other day, he might have a lot to think about, but this hunk of metal that was keeping them all alive was old. And it kept breaking down, and he had to fix it all, before it would become a real problem.

 

A few hours into his workday, Jake had time to sit down in his office, he used the time to run and rerun the numbers, calculations over calculations, all pointing out one glaring fact, they were running out of time. Last time around, he was sure that had he caught the problem early enough he would have been able to fix it, but now, finding the same problem almost a year earlier, it was obvious.

 

What he thought was an error, maybe even a flaw or a problem to be fixed was now clear as crystal. There wasn’t any real problem with the scrubbers and not with the air ducts or ventilation system, the problem was much more simple than that, they were running out of air.

 

The system was old, and not meant to keep so many people alive for so long, not without assistance from Earth, the scrubbers were always just short on producing enough air, but for years it wasn’t a problem, the difference so small that there was still air. But now, a century later, the small difference each year mattered, no longer did they have enough air to keep the gap filled, now the had to deal with the facts. The Ark was running out of air, and there was nothing they could do about it, except, maybe, bringing the Ark down.

 

After his lunch break, Jake came to a decision, he had to tell Thelonious if he had any hope to accomplish anything at all.

 

Walking into the Chancellor’s office after Thelonious was elected always felt surreal to Jake, Thelonious Jaha was a childhood friend of his, and while he was always ambitious, Jake had doubted his ability to make it into office, Thelonious was his friend, yes, but Jake wasn’t blind to his faults. The man was ambitious to a fault, and didn’t care much to who he hurt on the way up, he had a hard time sympathizing too, Never having dealt with having less than what he needed, and sometimes even, what he wanted. Thelonious was book smart, and loves history, he loved grand speeches and promises of bright future, promises he didn’t always intended to keep.

Jake was aware, and he was also aware of what Thelonious did to him in the old world, the friend he thought he could trust, that his wife thought would care enough to sway him from what they thought was the wrong path, but they were both wrong, and it cost them his life, their daughter’s freedom and his wife’s heart. He wasn’t about to repeat his past mistakes. This time around, he would approach it differently, let Thelonious lead him to the point where he thought that he offered the solution, this way, he would be safe for a little longer, and might even be able to fix whatever was wrong. He often wondered, now more than ever, since he knew that others survived him by many months. What did they do, to fix the problem, that allowed them to continue living?

  
  


Marcus Kane sat in his office for hours that day, sorting through entry admissions for cadet training, until the one he dreaded the most showed itself on his tablet.

On paper, the admission was a rather good perspective, a bright, young man from Factory Station, excelled in his studies, had a real knack for history. Was quiet and loyal. Exemplary citizen, really, but Marcus remembered the not so cut and dry facts about the young man.

 

Quick to anger, quick to place the guilt upon himself to catastrophic proportions, always blaming others for his mistakes. He was quick to claim leadership, but often was nothing but a puppet for other’s to control. Easily manipulated. Loyal only to his sister, and dangerously so.

 

Marcus stared at the screen, huffing and puffing, weighing pros and cons, and made a decision, despite his reservations.

 

Quietly, under his breath he cursed and tapped his tablet’s screen a little harder than he probably should have.

 

The tablet’s screen flashed and changed under Marcus’ eyes, his deep sigh ruffling the few hairs that found their way to his forehead.

 

The screen showed him a decision he was sure he was going to someday regret.

 

**CADET ADMISSION, ACCEPTED**

**BLAKE, BELLAMY**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> natblida - Nightbloods  
> tondisi - Ton DC (trikru village located over the ruins of Washington DC)


	7. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... This is me... Saying how much I love you all, and wish to thank you for all your kind words...  
> Now, if you will excuse me, I will go on and hide...
> 
> I love how this one turned out, but I am not so sure what the rest of you will make of it.  
> Just remember, chapter 8 is still being written, without me, there is no chapter 8...  
> Love you!  
> *hides from the world, to never be seen again.*

It is nearly three months after  _ azgeda _ was inducted into the coalition and much unrest is still in the air. Many of the clans are seething with unspent rage over  _ azgeda _ getting away with war against the coalition, but the laws are clear, any and every clan that joins, is to be pardoned for their past crimes, for they are crimes done in time of war.

 

She knew that her laws were something that would keep her people alive longer, that war was eating away at her people for generations now, but that did not mean she didn’t understand where the other clans were coming from, she had her revenge in the old world, but the people of this new one would never know about the spear that found itself lodged in Nia’s heart, by her hand. She had revenge, she had peace, and now she had to make sure the other clans would not take vengeance into their own hands. And so she was set to travel among the clans, soothe angry warriors and settle petty squabbles over supplies and border skirmishes. 

 

This would be the first time she left  _ polis _ after she was awaken in the past, and while she couldn’t wait to be back in the forest’s shade, she was worried about what was waiting for her out there, what is the same as it was before, and what has changed.

 

Moving quietly through the halls of the tower, she made her way to a hidden staircase that led to the floor directly beneath her bedroom, the one that housed what was most precious to her on this Earth, at least for now.

Sounds of childish laughter greeted her as she exited the hidden staircase, making sure that none of the  _ gona _ spread around the floor have noticed her entrance. She knows that she should trust no one when it comes to their protection, they were her future, but most importantly, and has nothing to do with tradition, they were the closest that she would ever have to her own children. They were hers, and she would protect them accordingly.

 

She moves through the floor, greeting the young  _ natblida _ with a smile, a quick word of reassurance and even a hand on a shoulder or two and to the youngest, a quick rub to the top of their unruly heads of hair. This is her way of saying goodbye, she knows nothing is set in stone, she might not make it back, she hopes nothing happens, as they are all so very young, and she fears for their sake as well of her own, that the next conclave was still far on the horizon, but she is not naive, her death in the old world could have been avoided, it was stupid and careless, and it did not come from an enemy, but from a friend.

 

She moved forward, the first pair of  _ gona _ who noticed her were startled for a few moments, but they were used to it by now, they were aware that there was another way into the floor, but they never found it, and they never will. Making her way to the two bedrooms closest to the only known entrance to the floor, they belonged to the oldest of the bunch, Aden and Ren. Both the oldest, only a few months in Aden’s favor separated their birthdays. Aden, the small blonde, blue eyed boy, that was delivered to  _ polis _ only a few weeks before the  _ heda _ before her perished. He was only a toddler then, small, face round and an unblinking stare, he used to laugh, so loudly, he loved being around the older  _ natblida _ . She remembers how Luna and her brother, Liev and herself, all used to fulfill his every wish, if he had spoken about it, and it was in their power, he would have it. Ren was brought in almost a year after her ascension, she was small, not quite a toddler anymore, but not much of a child either, she and Aden took to each other quickly, to her relief, she feared that Aden would be on his own for too long, that he would lose all that he had with Luna, Liev and herself by his side, but Ren quickly replaced what he had lost and as the other seven  _ natblida _ were brought to the city, they were all treated with the same love and respect and understanding as Aden was first treated, she knew that at worst, she had left her legacy among the  _ natblida _ to love and honor each other, as if they were siblings by blood.

 

The door to Aden’s bedroom was open, he was seated at his desk, many candles lit to provide him with light, so he could study the books open before him. When she stepped inside, Aden’s once relaxed form tensed, sensing her presence.

 

“ _ Aiden? _ ” his young body relaxed at the sound of her voice.

 

“ _ Heda. _ ” he turned to face her and nodded his head in greeting, his lips stretching into a relaxed smile, she loved seeing him smile, it gave her hope.

 

“ _ Ha yu? _ ” (How are you?) she asked, stepping even farther into the room, settling next to his seated form, raising a hand to his shoulder in a soothing gesture.

 

“ _ Os. taim yu gon we? _ ” (Well. When do you leave?) she knew he would be able to tell what she was there.

 

“ _ Nau. _ ” (Now.) Aden nodded stiffly as Lexa removed her hand from his shoulder, he rolled his neck slightly, showing just how uncomfortable he was with the idea of Lexa leaving. He was afraid of something, that much, Lexa understood from his body language.

 

“ _ Taim yu bakon hir? _ ” (When will you be back here?) his question was so simple, but Lexa had no answer for him.

 

“ _ Ai nou get in kom nau. _ ” (I don’t know that yet) Aden nodded again, but it did nothing to make Lexa less suspicious something is wrong. “ _ Sochu? _ ” (What’s up?)

 

“ _ En ste os. _ ” (Everything’s fine) insists Aden, and Lexa, despite wishing to know what was wrong, chooses to let it go, she wanted to say goodbye to everyone, and she still had to find Ren and she had only a few minutes more. She nodded at the boy, looking behind her at the open door, she finds the hallway empty of people, so she leans in quickly, and places a soft kiss to the crown of Aden’s head.

 

“ _ Ai hod yu in, stribro. _ ” (I love you, little brother) she rasps in his ear and leaves swiftly after, Aden looking after her as she leaves, tears welling in his eyes, but not one slipping down to his cheeks.

 

Lexa finds Ren in her room, laying on her bed, staring up at the ceiling, she had learned a long time ago that Ren was a dreamer, and she was more than willing to indulge the girl as long as she could afford to. After saying her goodbye, she left to the stables in the base of the tower, knowing that her little warband was already waiting for her there.

 

They exit the city quickly and rather quietly, it’s early enough that not many are roaming the streets, but the morning light is still grey and weak. Anya and Lexa lead the band of warriors into the forest, their first stop,  _ floudonkru _ .

 

A few hours into the three days long journey, Anya finally breaks the quiet companionship between the warrior and her commander, asking without saying too much, about what Lexa had failed to tell her three months ago, on that fateful day.

 

Lexa was more than ready to share what she knew.

“ _ Ontari, em ste natblida kom azgeda. _ ” (Ontari is the Ice Nation’s nightblood.) she sighed, there was no better explanation. Anya is a few shades away from impersonating a tomato.

 

“ _ aiden ste natblida kom azgeda seintaim. _ ” (Aden is an Ice Nation nightblood as well.)

 

“ _sha. ba azgeda nou tich em op. ai tich aiden op. ontari badan nia en noumou._ ” (Yes. But Ice Nation didn’t teach(raise) him. I teach(raise) Aden. Ontari serves(obeys) Nia and no one else.) explains Lexa, “ _ai natblida ste yong. ontari ste ai yo._ ” (My nightbloods are young, Ontari is my age) she admits.

 

“ _ disha strat ste teik don fou yu taim. _ ” (This plan was made before your time.) says Anya with understanding, Lexa nods, silent, she realized that a long time ago. The warband once again moved in silence.

 

They make it to the circle of stones on the third day at dusk, Lexa is all too happy to delegate the creation of the signal fire to her warriors, she choses a couple to lit the fire and tells the rest to build a camp, they were to stay there while Lexa, Anya and a couple of guards stayed with the  _ floudonkru _ .

 

About half an hour later, the camp was built and the signal fire was lit and burning green. As night fell and darkness covered the land and sea, Lexa stood some ways away from everyone, grooming her horse, letting the repetitive motions calm her. The last she had seen of Luna was just after the mountain fell, to tell her childhood friend and fellow nightblood everything about their war against the mountain, and how it was Clarke who brought the mountain to it’s knees on her own. But it was no longer the case, no, in this lifetime, the last she had seen of Luna was on the day  _ trikru  _ and _ floudonkru _ signed the treaty that signaled the beginning of the coalition, about a couple of years prior on her first Ascension Day since her Conclave.

 

Sooner rather than later, eleven masked forms rose from the water, they were here for them. The  _ floudonkru gonas _ were about to surround them but quickly noticed the flag posted right by the signal fire, the sacred mark of  _ heda _ . The broken infinity sign that was completed by a series of four dots connecting the torn edges. Apart, they are rulers by their own right, together, they are the unbroken legacy of  _ bekka pramheda _ . 

 

Lexa, Anya and Rayder and Thomas all stepped forward, no words were exchanged as the two guards took the clear veils offered to them and drank their contents, they dropped a few seconds later, the rest of the warriors disappeared back to the camp, leaving their beloved leader, her highest general and their two unconscious guards in the capable and trustworthy hands of the  _ floudonkru gona _ .

 

Two of the masked men took off their masks and grabbed branches off the fire, moving their hands in predetermined motioned, signaling for their rowboats it was safe to approach the shore. As the wooden rowboats hit the shore, Lexa was led to one of them, Anya following her former second religiously, sat right beside her as the watched the masked men struggling to lift and carry the two very well built men to the rowboats, amused. For the next few minutes, everyone were very quiet as they rowed towards the huge metal ship of the  _ floudonkru _ , aware that they must remain undetected. They reached the metal ship and rowed along the side of it until they reached a couple of metal cables hanging in the soft breeze, Lexa and Anya both knew what had to be done, so as the men who rowed the boat clipped the cable to their end of the boat, they did the same with the other cable, on their end of the boat. A couple of sharp tugs on the cables, first at the men’s side of the boat and then on theirs and the boat started to lift, the screech of metal loud in their ears.

 

Once they were at level with the ships guardrail, two men caught the lightly swinging boat and pulled it over guiding it as another man lowered the cables so the boat could rest on the two wooden stands right under it. A minute later, they were docked on the metal ship. Jumping out of the wooden boat, Lexa smiled to the three men who helped dock them safely, they all blushed, she may be their fearless leader, but she was still a beautiful young woman and they were hot blooded men.

 

Anya followed the younger woman, chuckling, she remembered how as a child, Lexa, more than once, got herself out of trouble with a smile and a quiver of her pouty lips. There was no denying their  _ heda _ and it wasn’t even because of her position.

They were quickly offered food and drinks as they were led to an overboard room that would house them for the rest of their journey to the  _ floudonkru _ territory that was set to last to a little after sunrise. Meanwhile, Rayder and Thomas were placed inside a metal container that would serve to hide the way to their destination from the two warriors. About an hour after they were settled in their chamber, one of the masked men, his mask hanging from his slender neck, knocked on the door, presenting Lexa with a rather large wooden chest, Lexa understood without the need for words. She followed the man out, as Anya slipped into one of the offered cots and settled in for the night. After all,  _ floudonkru _ were their closest allies.

 

Lexa and the man found their way to the metal container that housed her warriors, the doors were opened by the man, and he gestured for her to step forward. They allowed her to disarm her own men herself, a show of great respect from the peaceful people of the  _ floudonkru _ . She disarmed them quickly, making sure to take all their weapons, as her right as  _ heda _ , she herself was allowed to carry weapons around any territory, but others, not even her own guards were allowed any in  _ floudonkru _ territory, she offered the allied clan the same respect they offered her as she herself locked the chest that held her warriors weapons and presented it to the slender man.

 

“ _ ai strata, onya, om gon- _ ” (My general, Anya, her weapons…) the man turned his head from one side to the other once, then blushed when he realized he just cut off his  _ heda _ , but Lexa paid no mind for it as he continued with words that warmed her heart.

 

“ _ onya ste os, em ste oso lokut. _ ” (Anya is fine, she is our friend.)

 

“ _ oso? _ ” (Our?) asked Lexa, a small smile, just on the right side of smug spread on her face.

 

“ _ sha, heda. lokut kom floudonkru. _ ” (Yes Commander. Friend of the Boats Clan.) the man blushes even redder as Lexa lets out a chuckle, imagining in her mind how Anya would react to being classified as someone soft enough in the eyes of the  _ floudonkru _ to carry weapons in their home. She had a feeling it would not go well, and she had no doubt that Luna had something to do with it.

 

She was led back to the room she shared with Anya by the blushing man, her smug smile still well in place. Settling in for the night as well, she couldn’t help but remember the last time she shared a sleeping space with someone, this time, she wasn’t sharing her bed, but the small space was still intimate, she was lucky it was Anya and not someone else, not that anyone else would have been given such freedoms. Well, there was one that would have settled in her own bed without thought, not that Lexa would have minded. She thought about hair as golden as the sun and eyes blue as the sky. Her breath deepened and her thoughts settled as she fell into the arms of Morpheus, dreaming of the sky and the brightest star among them.

 

Lexa woke up when the sun was well past the horizon, but still early enough to count as morning. Above her a mess of reddish curls and warm brown eyes and a mischievous smile. Lexa smiled for a second and then realized the young woman above her was actually sitting on her stomach and was much heavier than Lexa remembered.

 

“ _ gyon op! luna, breik ai au! _ ” (Get up! Luna, let me go!) she said as she struggled slightly to overthrow the woman on top of her. She wouldn’t say no to a beautiful woman on top of her in most cases, but not Luna, never Luna.

 

Luna chuckled as she rose from her soft perch. Anya, standing to the side laughed out loud as her former second glared on.

 

“ _ mounin, strik heda! _ ” (Welcome, little Commander!) welcomes Luna and Lexa is rolling her eyes at the nickname, one of the many Luna had deemed fit to bestow upon her. “ _ weron ste kostia? _ ” (Where is Costia?) Lexa froze. The news had failed to reach Luna. It’s been months, but Luna seemed oblivious, despite the fact the  _ floudonkru _ ambassador was well aware himself.

 

“ _ luna, _ ” Lexa was choking on her own words, which was so unlike her, the wordsmith that she was. “ _ kostia ste stedaun. azplana nia frag em op. _ ” (Costia is dead. Ice Queen Nia killed her.) A strange look passed through Luna’s eyes, but Lexa noticed, and froze, all her muscles tensing. She could not believe what she was seeing.

 

“ _ ba yu get daun in. _ ” (But you know that.) Luna took a deep breath and tears flowed down her cheeks. She moved slowly as to not scare Lexa away, and pulled the smaller woman into her arms.

 

“ _ ai ron we en bants yu soulou _ .” (I ran away and left you alone.) cried Luna, “ _ ai swega yu don klin, gon shil yu op, en ron we taimyu gaf ai sis au. _ ” (I swore, to protect you, and ran away when you needed my help.) Lexa held her close, her own silent tears running into the reddish mane of the nightblood in her arms, the last one left from her own Conclave.

 

“ _ nou won vout in taitos gaf ai wamplei op. _ ” (No one thought that Titus wanted my death.) Lexa tried to calm her friend, by telling her no one could have known what Titus was planning.

 

“ _ taitos? oso tel don op wanheda frag yu op! _ ” (Titus? We were told the Commander of Death killed you!) Luna looked as betrayed as Lexa felt. Titus was their teacher, and while Luna and Titus never seen eye to eye - neither did Lexa and Titus, but he was sworn to her protection and servitude, so there wasn’t much he could do - he was their teacher, he raised them, he was their only childhood parental figure. They trusted him to keep them safe.

 

“ _ nou! taitos jomp wanheda op, gon frag em op, en led ai op. frag ai op. wanheda fis ai op, ba ai wan op… nou pleni jus. _ ” (No! Titus attacked the Commander of Death, to kill her, and hurt me. Killed me. The Commander of Death healed me, but I died… Not enough blood) Luna nodded, still sobbing, and let Lexa go. Anya looked on, realizing this was a window to what happened after Lexa’s death in the old world.

 

“ _ ha yu wan op? _ ” (How did you die?) asked Anya, Luna now looked angry.

 

“ _ gona kom soncha kapa! _ ” (Warriors from the City of Light!) she growled. Anya looked confused then remembered Roan’s tale of the days after Lexa’s death in the old world, but understanding colored Lexa’s eyes. With Lexa gone, and as Roan said before, with no real Commander at the throne, the Entity was free to take over.

 

They stood there, on the metal ship, in that small room that served Anya and Lexa during the night, silent, they acknowledged each other one more time, and exited the room, all sliding in into their public personas.

 

Their stay at the  _ floudonkru _ rigg was short but peaceful. They filled Luna in on their plans for the coming years, and what they planned for the imminent arrival of the  _ skaikru _ . They talked, they ate, they drank and they planned and slept, and then came their time to leave. Their journey back to shore was similar to the one on their way to the rigg, and after they reached the beach, Rayder and Thomas were given their weapons back and Lexa’s warriors packed up the camp and they were on their way once again.

 

The tour around the clans was a tiring endeavor, they were on the road close to two whole months when they reached their second to last destination.  _ sangedakru _ . 

 

The desert was harsh, but the clansmen were welcoming. Their was a feast in  _ heda _ ’s honor, on their first night there.

 

As they sat around the long table, Lexa at the head, Anya to her left and the king of the desert clan to her right, the king was set on introducing them to his daughter and heir. Lexa remembered her, King Dave died not long after the final negotiation with  _ azgeda _ , leaving his daughter, who was very close to Lexa’s age, to rule over his vast and harsh territory, successfully, fortunately enough.

 

“ _ heda, strata, _ ” (Commander, General) started the man as his daughter approached them, aiming for the seat to her father’s right. Eyes burning into Anya’s, despite the fact they have never met before. In this life. “ _ ai nomfri, hainofi karis kom sangedakru. _ ” (My daughter, Princess Caris of the Desert Clan) The man was obviously proud of his daughter, as he should be, Lexa remembered many positive things about the young woman.

 

“ _ Heda, _ ” nodded Caris, then turned her head to Anya. “ _ strata onya. _ ” (General Anya) her eyes bore into Anya’s recognizing the fact the woman was looking at her as if she recognized her, despite the two never meeting. King Dave looks on, confused, trying to remember when did he tell his daughter the general’s name. Caris might have not seen it in Lexa’s eyes, as their interaction in the old world was not of the familiar kind, but Anya and Caris fought many a battle together, they knew each other well, and that was what gave them away this time.

 

“ _ Karis. _ ” nodded Anya with a small smirk, then stood up to greet the other woman, offering her arm to the princess. They shook arms as King Dave watched on, confused, and as Caris sat down, Lexa caught her eyes. Caris was about to lower her eyes in deference, knowing it was not done to stare at the eyes of  _ heda _ , when Lexa gave her a small nod and a smug little smirk from the corner of her mouth.

 

Their visit to the  _ sangedakru _ lasted no more than a couple of days. By the time they were packing up the camp erected near the capital of the  _ sangedakru _ , they have yet to see Caris again, but that soon changed.

 

“ _ heda _ ” greeted a youthful voice from some ways away, Lexa recognized Caris’ voice, despite rarely hearing it in the old world. She motioned for the young woman to approach her, and Caris glided on the sand lightly, smiling as she neared her  _ heda _ .

 

“ _ bakon gon polis? _ ” (Going back to Polis?) She asked lightly, attempting small talk, despite the fact they both knew Caris would not have sought her out had she had nothing important to tell Lexa.

 

“ _ nou, _ ” replied Lexa, as she slid the last of her weapons back to its sheath and tucked it into her belt. “ _ gon tondisi. _ ” (to TonDC) heaviness weighed on them both, they remembered the town, in all it’s glory, and then, fire and rubble at their feet.

 

“ _ heda, _ ” started Caris once again, this time dropping all pretences. “ _ ai nontu ste haken, em ste kwelen, taim ai laik haiplana, sangedakru ste yun. _ ” (My father is sick, he is weak, when I am Queen, the Desert Clan people are yours.)

 

“ _ sangedakru ste ain, karis. _ ” (The Desert Clan people are mine, Caris.) reminds her Lexa, but the princess shakes her head in negative.

 

“ _ nou, _ ” she says, “ _ sangedakru badan ai nontu, ai kru badan yu kos ai nontu tel emo op. taim ai laik haiplana, sangedakru na badan yu kos yu laik heda, ai heda, en emo. _ ” (The Desert Clan people serve my father, my people serve you because my father tells them to do so. When I am Queen, the Desert Clan people will serve you because you are the Commander, my Commander, and theirs.)

 

Lexa considers what she is told, to anyone else this would not matter, but she knew her future plans, and so did Caris, this was a promise, that Caris accepts her position as second to  _ heda _ , it means she is loyal, and despite knowing what is waiting in their future, she will give Lexa her all, her people included.

“ _ mochof, haiplana. _ ” (Thank you, Queen.) says Lexa, her voice is rough, she did not expect anyone to follow her this willingly, knowing what she had done in the old world.

 

“ _ hainofi. _ ” (Princess) corrects Caris and smiles at her beloved leader. “ _ taim wanheda ste hir, tel em ai mema in chit ai swega em klin. em na get in. _ ” (When the Commander of Death is here, tell her I remember what I promised. She will know.) with that, the princess left a startled Lexa behind, nodding at Anya on her way.

 

Lexa knew that Caris and Clarke got along well in the old world, they were both rather stubborn, yet more than willing to take upon change, they loved debating each other, and Lexa herself have been known to weigh in on one of their debates of things she knew more about than them, and then watched on as the two used the new information as a weapon against the other. She believed that when Clarke’s people used her, made her save them, and then blamed her for their troubles, Caris was one of the few friends Clarke had made that she could trust not to do the same, and while she could not trust that Caris would not harm her people, Clarke could still trust the young Queen not to make it personal.

 

“ _ leksa? _ ” Lexa was startled out of her rushing thoughts by Anya placing her hand on her shoulder. Turning towards her beloved former mentor, Lexa cleared her mind and smiled tightly at the honey blonde before her.

 

“ _ sha? _ ” (Yes?)

 

“ _ oso bants nau. _ ” (We leave now.) Lexa nodded and walked side by side with Anya, towards her horse, the two mounted up, they were the last to do so, and they were off back to their own territory,  _ trikru _ lands.

 

Five days later, they reached their destination, TonDC. This time, Lexa wasn’t the only one greeted with respect, in fact, her arrival took a back seat to the return of the TonDC born warriors with her, she didn’t mind, Anya and Lexa both grew up in this village, but they left so long ago, and were so high up the hierarchy that no one dares greet them as they did the rest of their home grown warriors.

 

As her warriors were being treated as heroes, now back in their home town, Lexa had the time to take it all in, the last she had seen of this village, it was in shambles, because of her. Because of the Mountain. She took care of her horse on her own, unwilling to part one of her warriors to perform an act she could do herself perfectly well, and heaved her own pack on her back. She was willing to wait a little for her people to finish their reunion before she asked them to erect her tent, she was tired, yes, but this was far more important. She was about to heave the other pack on her back as well, when they were both gently snachde away from her.

 

Soft brown eyes greeted her when she turned her head to see who was the culprit, if it were anyone else, they would be long gone, but this man, this warrior and healer, was a friend, a dear friend she had not seen in a long time, of her own doing. She ordered his death, and she died before she could lift the order. He was a friend, but he was also part of her family, to be  _ heda _ is to be alone, yes, but it does not mean they had no family before their  _ shadjus _ was discovered.

 

“ _ heda _ ” he looks at her carefully, too carefully.

 

“ _ linkon _ ” she nods at her beloved cousin.

 

“ _ ai sen don in yu ai ai strisis op. _ ” (I heard you saw my little sister.) He must have visited her during the past two months Lexa was on the road, this seemed to be the only way to get news from  _ floudonkru _ , it seemed.

 

“ _ sha, em ste os. _ ” (Yes, she is well.) she tells him, unpromoted, she knows he probably knew better how she was, since he had seen her last, but as long as he won’t admit to seeing her, it was only polite.

 

“ _ ai get in. _ ” (I know.) he smiles as they walk together to the site they both know the camp would soon be erected on.

 

“ _ chich yu gaf, linkon? _ ” (What do you want, Lincoln?) she asks, tired and feeling rather guilty upon seeing him again, he knows nothing, and she’s looking into his warm, comforting eyes, knowing that once upon a time, she sentenced her own cousin to death.

 

“ _ gon sis yu au, heda, taim skai na slip daun. _ ” (To help you, Commander, when the skies will fall.) Lexa freezes on the spot, choking on her own breath. Another one for the count, which was now amassing quite a bit.

 

“ _ yu bilaik soulou? _ ” (Are you alone?) she asks, but she already suspects the answer, it seemed that people who once had rather close contact with some of the  _ skaikru _ woke up in this new world.

 

“ _ nou. _ ” he confirmed her suspicion, as they reach the campsite, they set down the packs and find a seat at the foot of one of the thicker tree in the area. “ _ indra en naikou seintaim. _ ” (Indra and Nyko as well.)

 

Lexa nods once more, and her entire body sags just for a moment, allowing her to be weak, she was, after all, among family. She turned to look at Lincoln and quietly spoke.

 

“ _ gon we, linkon, ai gaf bilaik soulou. _ ” (Leave, Lincoln, I wish to be alone.) Lincoln smiles grimly at his cousin and stands up, he makes eye contact with the two warriors that followed them to the campsite, to make sure they were watching the drained Commander, touched his palm softly to the top of Lexa’s head, and left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> azgeda - Ice Nation  
> gona - Warrior / Warriors  
> natblida - Nightbloods  
> heda - Commander  
> ha yu? - How are you?  
> os. taim yu gon we? - Well. When do you leave?  
> nau - Now  
> taim yu bakon hir? - When will you be back here?  
> ai nou get in kom nau - I don’t know that yet  
> sochu? - What’s up?  
> en ste os - Everything’s fine  
> ai hod yu in, stribro - I love you, little brother  
> ontari, em ste natblida kom azgeda - Ontari is the Ice Nation’s nightblood.  
> aiden ste natblida kom azgeda seintaim - Aden is an Ice Nation nightblood as well.  
> sha. ba azgeda nou tich em op. ai tich aiden op. ontari badan nia en noumou. - Yes. But Ice Nation didn’t teach(raise) him. I teach(raise) Aden. Ontari serves(obeys) Nia and no one else.  
> ai natblida ste yong, ontari ste ai yo - My nightbloods are young, Ontari is my age  
> disha strat ste teik don fou yu taim - This plan was made before your time.  
> floudonkru - Boats Clan  
> trikru - Woods Clan  
> floudonkru gona - Boats Clan warriors  
> bekka pramheda - Becca the First Commander  
> ai strata, onya, om gon - My general, Anya, her weapons…  
> onya ste os, em ste oso lokut - Anya is fine, she is our friend.  
> oso? - Our?  
> sha, heda. lokut kom floudonkru. - Yes Commander. Friend of the Boats Clan.  
> gyon op! luna, breik ai au! - Get up! Luna, let me go!  
> mounin, strik heda! - Welcome, little Commander!  
> weron ste kostia? - Where is Costia?  
> luna, kostia ste stedaun. azplana nia frag em op. - Luna, Costia is dead. Ice Queen Nia killed her.  
> ba yu get daun in. - But you know that.  
> ai ron we en bants yu soulou, - I ran away and left you alone.  
> ai swega yu don klin, gon shil yu op en ron we taim yu gaf ai sis au - I swore, to protect you, and ran away when you needed my help.  
> nou won vout in taitos gaf ai wamplei op - No one thought that Titus wanted my death.  
> taitos? oso tel don op wanheda frag yu op! - Titus? We were told the Commander of Death killed you!  
> nou! taitos jomp wanheda op, gon frag em op, en led ai op. frag ai op. wanheda fis ai op, ba ai wan op… nou pleni jus. - No! Titus attacked the Commander of Death, to kill her, and hurt me. Killed me. The Commander of Death healed me, but I died… Not enough blood  
> ha yu wan op? - How did you die?  
> gona kom soncha kapa! - Warriors of the City of Light!  
> skaikru - Sky People  
> sangedakru - Desert Clan  
> heda, strata, - Commander, general,  
> ai nomfri, hainofi karis kom sangedakru. - My daughter, Princess Caris of the Desert Clan  
> bakon gon polis? - Going back to Polis?  
> gon tondisi. - To TonDC  
> ai nontu ste haken, em ste kwelen, taim ai laik haiplana, sangedakru ste yun. - My father is sick, he is weak, when I am Queen, the Desert Clan people are yours.  
> sangedakru ste ain, karis - The Desert Clan people are mine, Caris.  
> sangedakru badan ai nontu, ai kru badan yu kos ai nontu tel emo op. taim ai laik haiplana, sangedakru na badan yu kos yu laik heda, ai heda, en emo. - The Desert Clan people serve my father, my people serve you because my father tells them to do so. When I am Queen, the Desert Clan people will serve you because you are the Commander, my Commander, and theirs.  
> mochof, haiplana - Thank you, Queen.  
> hainofi - Princess  
> taim wanheda ste hir, tel em ai mema in chit ai swega em klin. em na get in. - When the Commander of Death is here, tell her I remember what I promised. She will know.  
> Sha? - Yes?  
> oso bants nau. - We leave now.  
> shadjus - Black Blood  
> ai sen don in yu ai ai strisis op. - I heard you saw my little sister.  
> sha, em ste os. - Yes, she is well.  
> ai get in. - I know.  
> chich yu gaf, linkon? - What do you want, Lincoln?  
> gon sis yu au, heda, taim skai na slip daun. - To help you, Commander, when the skies will fall.  
> yu bilaik soulou? - Are you alone?  
> nou. indra en naikou seintaim. - No. Indra and Nyko as well.  
> gon we, linkon, ai gaf bilaik soulou. - Leave, Lincoln, I wish to be alone.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear readers,  
> This chapter comes a little early, don't get used to it! I was called for weekend duty (That is known to happen once every few weeks in my line of work) and I have no access to civilian computers (or any at all really)  
> There was no one proof reading this chapter though, be warned!  
> (This is a rather long one...)  
> Love you all!

Waking up cold from sweat was not unfamiliar to Clarke in the last few months. Heartbeat racing and lungs struggling to fill with air, she longed for the fresh air and soothing winds of the Earth, the cold, unlimited supply of water, and the warmth of Lexa’s smile and reassuring strength.

Nightmares, far from Clarke’s top side-effects of waking up in the past. She had many dreams that had to do with her sometimes truly horrible memories, but the nightmares that were the hardest to bear were those that had to do with the unknown. She had no idea what was going on down on Earth, if Lexa was still alive, if she even remembered her. She could imagine a whole list of unimaginable ways fate might have befallen the Commander of the Blood. It did nothing to sooth her nightmares.

 

Turning over in her narrow bed, she knew there was no going back to sleep, it was rather late at night, which means, had she managed to go back to sleep now, she would still have about five more hours of much needed sleep. Alas, she already knew that sleep would not come easy now, not when this time, she awoke from nightmares having to do with the unknown fate of her - previously dead - lover.

Stretching her sore muscles and reaching for her sleeping trousers which she had discarded of the second she slipped into bed, she pulled them on and left her bedroom for the family living room, hoping for a glass of water and some form of distraction.

 

And distraction she found.

 

Jake Griffin spent an entire year thinking he was either going mad, or he was the unluckiest man on the Ark. He didn’t have nightmares per-say, they were more like snippets of memories he would rather forget, like the moment between being released into space and death, the unimaginable cold, the inability to breath, the sight of the Ark, floating away in space, the look on Clarke’s face as the button was pushed. Those were all memories he would have rather forgotten, but after a few months of being back, he got used to them, and after checking up on Clarke almost every night for the first few months, he could let the rope lose just a bit, and let the sounds and signs of life coming from her closed bedroom door assure him she was fine. Tonight though, it wasn’t just sounds and signs that assured him of her living form, but Clarke herself, wearing her bed cloths was the sight that greeted him after a particularly unpleasant bout of memories plagued him when he tried his hand at sleep.

 

“Clarke? Is everything alright?” he asked softly from his seat at his workstation, Clarke looked startled to see him there.

 

“Dad! What are you doing awake?” she asked, Jake noticed her rapid and shallow breathing, she was pale and sweaty, and for a moment he feared she might be sick, but as she took a couple more steps into the living room, eyes on him, he watched as her breathing slowed and deepened somewhat, she was still pale and sweaty, but her loosening shoulders gave away that it might be something else.

 

“Nightmares?”

 

“Are you asking or telling me?” she tried to joke, but her father knew her better than anyone on the Ark, and when she tried to avoid, he was the first to notice.

 

“Asking, Clarke, did you wake up from nightmares?” Jake was serious this time, not giving up the scrutinizing stare on Clarke as she sat down on the couch closest to him. He took it as a sign that it was alright for him to sit next to her.

 

“Did you?” she asked, serious as well, and before he could scold her for not answering his question, she continued. “I did, wake up from nightmares. I mean.”

 

Jake sighed deeply and ran a hand through his messy hair. “Not nightmares, memories.”

 

“Sometimes, it’s worse, the nightmares, I mean, I don’t mind memories.” Clarke was starting to open up, and Jake couldn’t be happier. “I know how they end. Nightmares though, those I can’t take, the things I cannot control, or know nothing about.”

 

Jake took in what his 15, almost 16 years old daughter told him, and felt as if he was missing a very important part of her growing up. Even in the old world, she was smart, yes, and calm and mature, yes, but this heaviness, it was never there.

 

“Do you get them a lot?” he asks, and Clarke hesitates before nodding.

 

“Yes, some weeks, every night.” Jake opened his arms and Clarke cuddles into his warmth, she missed this, her father, just the two of them, no one else, and the little bit of quiet this talks had given her before. “When it’s memories, even the bad ones, I can remember what happened next and mostly I can go back to sleep,” she explains how she made it this far on so little sleep. “But when it’s nightmares, nothing that actually happened before, I can’t go back to sleep, too much things on my mind, too much noise.”

 

“Clarke,” he begins softly, “I know that watching me being floated is not the most pleasant of experiences but-”

 

“Dad,” she cuts him off, holding on to him even tighter than before. “I wish that was my worst memory.” Jake is stunned.

 

What could be worse? Was the question running through Jake Griffin’s mind as he held his only daughter tighter, rocking slightly, trying to bring her as much comfort as he could manage.

 

“Tell me, Clarke, I want to know, everything.”

 

Clarke was tearing up silently, she wanted to tell her father everything, she wanted his comfort, his advice, but she didn’t want to tell him how everything went to hell the moment he died. She wanted to protect him, but she knew, that sooner rather than later, they would need Jake Griffin, his position as the Ark’s Chief Engineer and his abilities and knowledge. And above all else, it wasn’t fair to leave him in the dark.

 

“After they floated you,” she begins, silent tears slipping down her cheeks, but her voice is sure, and her stare into her father’s own eyes is unwavering. “They arrested me for treason. Mom didn’t know they were about to do it either, I think Thelonious was planning something like this from the moment Mom asked him to try and change your mind about telling everyone on the Ark about the flaw in the system.

I was in isolation for 18 months, until about a month before my 18th birthday, the irony, right?”

 

_“Prisoner 3-1-9 stand up and face the wall!” she heard the door slam open behind her, the piece of charcoal she held tightly in her hand slipped out and tumbled noiselessly on the metal floor of her cell. She was afraid, but more than anything, she was confused, she had a few more weeks of life left in her. She was under no illusion she would pass her review, she wasn’t in here because of a crime she committed, she was here to hide the truth, and as long as that truth had to be hidden, she was a wild card, one that the council couldn’t afford._

_Holding her wrists tightly, the guard on her right smirked smugly at her and the one on her left attempted to take off her father’s old wristwatch…- Clarke...Clarke… CLARKE!_

 

“Clarke!” she snapped out of the memory from her last few moments on the Ark, back in the old world, when she thought she was about to be executed while under 18, despite the law forbidding it.

 

“Dad… Sorry, old memories.” she sniffled and wiped her tears with the back of her hand, she then continued.

 

“They took 100 of us prisoners, including Wells and myself, outfitted us with wristbands to monitor our vital signs and put us on a dropship. They sent us to Earth, dad, to see if we would survive. They sent us down to Earth, Jaha made a promise to pardon us all from all of our crimes if we survive and communicate to them that the Earth is survivable. They let the failures get so bad that there was no other choice but abandon the Ark, and we were the first ones to be sacrificed. They sent us to our death.” Jake paled and was about to jump to his feet and run to kill his childhood friend with his own bare hands, but Clarke continued on.

 

“It was so beautiful, dad, so… so green! And alive, everything around us, dad, it was all part of a breathing, living and growing organism, we made it to Earth, only two of us died on impact but apart from that, we were fine!” wonder filled Jake’s eyes, his daughter lived to see the ground!

 

“You **were** fine?” he asked suddenly, internalizing what Clarke had said.

 

Clarke nodded, and then smiled sadly.

 

“We weren’t alone, and we didn’t know that at first.” it took Jake a couple of minutes to realize what his daughter just said.

 

“Wait, are you saying there are people on Earth?” this revelation was incredible to him, and despite never hearing his daughter telling blatant lies before, he was tempted to pass this as a lie.

 

“So many of them, dad, they out number us Arkers easily.” Clarke told him eagerly, and he was getting the feeling there was more to the story.

 

“We started a war we couldn’t win, we didn’t know that, but we burnt one of the grounder villages to the ground when trying to make contact with the Ark, when we lost contact with the Ark, and Bellamy had this brilliant idea to take off our wristbands, they thought we were dying out, and the Earth wasn’t survivable, so Mom, to try and stop Jaha from reducing population sent us Raven Reyes in an over a century old escape pod she rebuilt herself- “

 

“Raven Reyes? My 15 years old recruit?” asked Jake, Clarke blushed red, she and Raven never talked about it, but Clarke was more than aware that Jacopo Sinclair worked for her father, and despite being the one who fought for her, her father, was the one to sign her in onto the program despite her heart defect.

 

“Ahh… Yes?”

 

“I knew she was meant for great things!” he declared proudly, and Clarke smiled, it was apparently a theme in her family, to adopt Raven as part of their own.

 

“Well, she is great, and she will continue to be great, anyway, she landed- well, more like crashed, on Earth, but Bellamy got to her first and disconnected the radio from the pod, destroying it.”

 

“Who is this Bellamy? He sounds a bit… unhinged?” Clarke wanted to stay serious, she really did, but her father just described Bellamy in the truest possible way despite hearing only a couple of sentences about him.

 

“Bellamy Blake, he is a few years older than me, he snuck into the dropship as they were shutting it down for the drop. One of the 100 was his younger sister, Octavia.” Clarke knew it was risky, telling her father about the illegal child roaming around the Ark, but her father proved true to his character and nodded in understanding.

 

“Protective then?” he asked and Clarke chuckled darkly.

 

“Yes, but you were right, unhinged is also a good way to describe Bellamy.” she then turned serious once again. “Anyways, Raven landed and Bellamy destroyed the radio. We took to trying a little more, explosive, means. We sent three flares up to the atmosphere, but what we didn't know was that they landed in a village and burnt it down. The rounders thought we attacked them, so they attacked us. It escalated very quickly from there. We tried making peace, but Jasper screwed it up by shooting at the grounders during the peace talks. They attacked us again, this time though, there were 300 of them, and less than a 100 of us.”

 

Jake then realized what his daughter was telling him. She fought a war, with people they had no idea existed.

 

“I made the call. Them or us, I chose us. Dad, I burnt 300 men alive.”

 

Jake was staring at his daughter, frozen. Stuck between surprise and disgust. He settled eventually, on surprise. He knew nothing about the ground apart from what Clarke just told him, he had no right to judge.

 

“After, when we were trying to asses the damages to our camp, came another enemy, one we didn't know about before. The Mountain Men. They were a group of people who survived the bombs in the fallout shelter built into Mount Weather. When they sent us down, they mentioned the mountain would have rations that could last us a while and told us to find it. But the people there, dad, they couldn't survive the radiation outside the mountain. They did horrible things to survive, what they did to the grounders…”

 

“I thought the grounders are the enemy?”

 

Clarke shakes her head violently.

 

“They were.“ she says hotly, “before we realized we all want peace, and we all want our people who were trapped inside the mountain back.”

 

“What happened then?” asked Jake, confused.

 

“We were taken inside the mountain, they separated us, grounders and the 100. The grounders they took somewhere else, but they released those of us from the 100 they captured to the general population. They wanted to integrate us into their bloodline. Meanwhile, the rest of the Ark fell, but they lied to us, told us they all crashed and there were no survivors.”

 

“Why would they lie?” Jake was still confused.

 

“Because I was already suspicious of them.” Sighed Clarke and ran her fingers through her messy blonde locks. “I was one of the only ones from the 100 who had much contact with the grounders before the mountain. We were trying for peace talks, a move which I led.”

 

“My daughter, the leader.” Jake smiled proudly and Clarke chuckled lightly.

 

“If only…” She said.

 

“During the time I spent with the grounders I heard them whispering about the mountain and they even told us they thought we were from the mountain. They were obviously afraid of something. When we were inside the mountain, everything felt off. So I investigated. Dad, they used the grounders as blood-bags!”

 

Clarke wasn't the only one looking horrified now. Jake had no idea how his daughter could get any kind of sleep with those kind of memories running through her head.

Clarke chose to save the truly gory details to herself.

 

“Anyway, I was snooping around when I found where they were keeping the grounders, it was a huge cavern in the deeper part of the mountain, they were held in cages, like animals, in one of the cages closest to the door I came through, was the grounder General that I was dealing with during the talks, her name was Anya. I took my chances and released her. While the others were so in love with the idea of a perfectly safe life inside the mountain, I knew that it won’t be long before we would become the next victims, and I was right. Not long after I ran away, they started experimenting on the others. You see, they used grounder blood to filter the radiation from their bodies, but it wasn’t enough to bring them to the surface, so when they found out our resistance to radiation was even greater than the grounders’, they began asking those of the 100 they had inside to donate their blood for the treatment of their friends that they have made inside the mountain. It started out voluntarily, from what I heard, then when they realized the potential, they started kidnapping the 100, one by one, extracting bone marrow from them until they died on the table. They killed three of the 48 they captured, I ran away, and they managed to take some from a couple of others before something could have been done for them.”

 

Jake recognized the signs of nausea taking over his stomach, Clarke was so calm and collected as she told their story, but what Jake didn’t know, was that they worse was still to come.

 

“Anya and I ran away through a shoot that was adjunct to the cage cavern, which we later found out was made for dead bodies of grounder prisoners. We ran blindly through the tunnels all around the outer perimeter of the mountain, trying to escape the men who came chasing after us, we reached a sort of a dead end. The mountain got its electricity through a huge dam, and we were on the edge of that dam, over a deep pool of water, Anya didn’t hesitate, she jumped right in, but I didn’t know how to swim , but at the last second, I jumped in as well. That day, Anya saved my life by pulling me out of the water and teaching me the most important the ground could ever teach me, never give up, and that desperate times call for truly desperate measures.

We ran away from the mountain together and reached an understanding, we agreed that each of us would return to our camp and inform our leaders of what was being done inside the mountain, and try and bring our people together, so we could take on the mountain together, With our Ark tech and the grounders’ huge numbers, we had a chance to rid of the biggest enemy the people who roamed the surface of the Earth had.

Anya took me back to camp, but after long hours running away and hiding ourselves in mud and gore, we were unrecognizable. The Ark guards shot at us, they killed Anya, and almost shot me through the shoulder.”

 

Jake’s expression darkened. “And your mother condoned this?”

 

“Mom gave the order to shoot grounders on sight, and later, she was one of the most vocal people against a treaty with the grounders.”

 

Jake grunted in disagreement. Clarke chuckled.

 

“Things got messy between me and Mom then… When I got there I found out that some of the others from the 100 survived, Finn Collins was one of them. We sort of had a thing at the beginning when we landed and he fell in love with me, when the Mountain  took us, he thought the grounders did it, so he went looking for me, he ended up killing 18 innocent people. This was where I found him, in the grounder village he massacred, on my way to make peace with the grounders’ Commander. He paid for it with his life, so we could have an alliance with the grounders. Hey wanted him to suffer the pain of the 18 deaths he caused, but I couldn’t… I couldn’t let him suffer like that, Dad… I couldn’t. I had to, Dad, I had to do it…” tears welled up in Clarke’s eyes once again, and to her surprise she felt her father’s arms tighten around her and a soft hum in an understanding tone rumbles throughout her tired bones.

 

“You killed him.”

 

“I killed him.” she agreed.

 

“We had our alliance, we planned the attack on the mountain, and the mountain men realized that, they sent a missile to the village we were gathered in. I found out and told Lexa, and the two of us had to make the choice, we chose to let 250 people die, so we could live to plan another day. Then the day came, and we left to attack the mountain, everything went to plan, but then we separated and Lexa went the other way. They needed us more than they needed the grounders, so they offered her a deal, she took it, Dad, she took her people and left. She left me alone…”

 

Jake moved one of his hands to stroke his daughter’s back, his curiosity getting the better of him.

“Clarke, who was this Lexa?”

 

“The grounders’ Commander. _heda leksa kom trikru_.”

 

“What?”

 

“It’s their language. Trigedasleng. Commander Lexa of the Woods Clan.”

 

“Clan? There are clans?”

 

“Yeah, twelve of them. _trigedakru_ \- Woods Clan, the Boats Clan are called _floudonkru_ , there’s Broadleaf, Rock Line and Blue Cliff who are _yujleda, boudalan_ and _ouskejon kru_ respectvly. There’s the Shadow Valley and the Plain Raiders, _louwoda kliron_ and _ingranrona_ . There are also the Glowing Forest Clan, _trishanakru_ , the Lake People and Desert Clan, _podakru_ and _sangedakru_ and the Delphi Clan, _delfikru._ The last, clan, are the most vicious, and are quite literally the enemies of each and every other clan, _azgeda_. Ice Nation, they are ruled by this power hungry monster, that even Thelonious seems innocent next to her.”

 

Clarke’s words struck a chord in Jake’s heart.

 

“You know a lot about the grounders,” he said.

 

“After what I did in Mount Weather…”

 

“What-” Clarke cut her father’s question off. “I killed them all, Dad, they couldn’t breath the outside air, and I let it in because they refused to let our people go. There were innocent children in that mountain, Dad, but I made a choice, and they all paid for it with their lives.”

 

Jake motioned with his eyes for his daughter to continue her story.

 

“After the mountain, I made sure everyone went back to camp, but I never went in, I left for the forest. I was on  my own for three months. I learned to survive by myself, and as time went on I dared making contact with other humans, grounders, I learned their language, their customs, I became one of them, but while I was gone the legend of what I have done, I destroyed their greatest enemy, they were all looking for me, they have a belief, down there, that when you kill someone, you take their powers, strictly spiritual, of course, they are not stupid… Anyway, they took to calling me _wanheda_ , Commander of Death, because my death count was so high. I’m not proud of it, but I did what I had to do to insure our people survived.

After three months, a bounty hunter found me, he was Ice Nation, and I believed this was the end of me, despite being so damn angry at Lexa for leaving me, I knew that she was the better option as a ruler, and if the Ice Queen got to me first, she would have no problem staging a coup and taking Lexa’s seat, I should have known that Lexa was smarter than that. She was the one who sent the bounty hunter, and he brought me to her. She may have left me at the mountain, but according to her, she was the one who broke our deal, therefore, she owed me. She protected me and offered _skaikru_ , that’s us, Arkers, a place in her coalition of the clans. We took the offer, Marcus took the brand as our Chancellor, and I remained in _polis_ , the grounder capital as the ambassador.

The Ice Queen staged her coup anyway, and Lexa had to fight her son to the death, but instead of killing the Prince, she killed the Queen, making the Prince the King, and leaving him in her debt. We were on our way to bring the body of the Ice Queen to Arkadia, because part of her coup was an attack on us, when we found 300 of the warriors sent to protect Arkadia dead, by bullets, grounders don’t use guns, Dad, by the time the mountain fell, we were the only ones in the possession of guns. Charles Pike and other members of Farm Station who landed in Ice Nation territory and Bellamy Blake, came in the night and killed them all, well, all but one, they left Indra, our friend and ally, alive, so she could give the Commander a message. Marcus and Mom felt guilty that the Chancellor wasn’t elected so they opened elections, Marcus lost to Pike, who despised grounders, and… Well. it wasn’t pretty.”

 

“Charles was never a racist man, Clarke.”

 

“No, he was a great teacher,” Clarke smiled sadly at her father, “but even Lexa’s greatest warriors could do nothing as they watched her lover being taken by the Ice Nation and killed for being the Commander’s. So why wouldn’t a man that knew no pain before landing on Earth, crack when pushed over the edge?”

 

“It all sounds like hell down there, Clarke.”

 

“It was,” stated Clarke, but then continued with a smile her father could never mistake as anything but pure joy and love. “It’s also the greatest piece of heaven, Dad, everything is alive. And there is so much beauty. The places I saw, the food! Real food! Meat, fruits and vegetables, grain and milk, everything. And the people. The people who can be kind and mean and everything in between, there is this honesty. Lexa once told me that she was always very proud to lead her people, despite the fact many sought to undermine her, because she knew she could bring peace… and she did, while she lived, there was peace.”

 

“Wasn’t there before, or after?”

 

“Before Lexa there was no coalition, only twelve warring clans and the shadow of the mountain, she created the coalition, she planned the attack on the mountain, she brought them all peace. And I don’t know what came after, Dad, I died only a few hours after her death.”

 

“Why?” Jake asked, he had tears in his eyes, he knew that to be here his daughter had to die, but imagining it was beyond what he was capable of.

 

“Because her legacy was more important than my life.”

 

“You loved her.” realized Jake and Clarke smiled grimly.

 

“She is the love of my life.”

 

“Who was she? To you?”

 

“An ally… My friend. Someone who understood me, liked me for me, she saw my potential. She became the person I loved and trusted the most. We had so little time together, it wasn't fair…”

 

“Life hardly ever is.” Said Jake.

 

The two of them sat there for a few minutes more.

 

“Are you free tomorrow afternoon? I want to take you somewhere after my shift at the MedBay.”

 

“I'll meet you there?”

 

Clarke nodded into her father’s shoulder one last time and then stood up, she kissed the top of his head softly and made her way back to bed. Jake was not far behind her.

 

The next day passed like a blur to Clarke, but not to Jake. While his daughter was at work, Jake used what little time he had between his own work and meal time to chase down Marcus Kane.

 

It wasn’t particularly hard, Marcus was sitting in his office, reviewing work details and guard rotations.

 

“Marcus” Jake entered the office his body tight with nervous energy.

 

“Jake, what can I do for you?” Marcus smiled tiredly at his old friend.

 

“Who’s idea was it?” Jake literally vibrated with restrained anger.

 

Marcus furrowed his brow and tilted his head sideways in question. “What idea?”

 

“To send 100 **children** to the ground!” Marcus sighed, setting down his tablet on the desk in front of him.

 

“You talked to Clarke?” he asked as he motioned for his old friend to seat himself at one of the chairs set in front of Marcus’ desk.

 

“She woke up from nightmares, I was there, we got talking.” Marcus nodded understandingly.

 

“We all suffer from nightmares since we came back, life wasn’t easy on the ground, Jake, sometimes, the only way I can describe what we have been through is Hell on Earth.”

 

“Who’s idea was it?” Jake wasn’t getting off track.

 

“Thelonious came up with this bright idea, to sacrifice the young prisoners, he called it two birds with one stone. Too bad it backfired on him.”

 

“How did it backfire?” growled Jake.

 

“They didn't die.” Jake growled again, this time even louder. Marcus shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

 

“Lock the door, Jake, we have to talk.” Jake rose from his seat and locked the door behind him, returning to his seat he directed all his attention to his friend.

 

“Look, Jake, after your death, many of us did things we are not proud of. One of my greatest regrets is giving the order to kill 320 of our people to give us another month of air, despite the fact the Earth was survivable. But Thelonious took it all too far. He lied and deceived; he became everything we feared one of our leaders could become, then Diana Sydney took a shot at the council and everything went to hell. We landed on Earth in the middle of one of our greatest conflicts, the grounders had their own ward to fight and it all got messy very fast.” There was silence as Jake contemplated Marcus’ words and his friend let him, sitting quietly supportive, behind his massive metal desk.

 

“This time, we are doing it the right way. “ declares Jake and Marcus smiled.

 

“My friend, if you put your mind to it, I am sure we would do much better this time around, now that we know the solution. Now, if you have the time, at the end of the shift meet me near MedBay’s storage area, I have something to show you.”

 

“Clarke asked me to do just that last night.” Said Jake and Marcus grinned.

 

“Great minds think alike!” Joked Marcus and Jake cracked a smile. “Be there, we really do have something to show you. Callie said she would be there too.” Jake smiled at his old friend and left, leaving Marcus to his duties.

 

Just as Clarke’s shift at MedBay came to a close, Jake and Callie made their way to the storage area behind it, looking around them carefully. They made it there, but just as they were slipping into the designated meeting spot, they were both surprised by Marcus. The dark haired man smiled brightly at the two, put his finger to his lips - signaling for the two to keep silent - and motioning with his other hand towards an out of the way maintenance hatch that Jake was well aware was out of use for years now.

 

Marcus opened the hatch and led the other two adults down the connecting corridor. As they walked deeper and deeper into the corridor, they noticed that despite the air being the same it was all around the Ark, it was better circulated and had an odd smell to it, Jake was quick to put a name to it. Sweat, the air smelled like human sweat, and not the kind that came from sick people, no. It was a smell of human perspiration, a result of physical exertion. Someone was exercising.

 

No one exercised on the Ark, not on a regular basis and most certainly not to great feats of physical fitness, it took too much air, and required more food and nutrition than the Ark stores could supply. But the air in wherever they were seemed to be circulated only in this area, as if it was cut off the main supply, and while it wasn’t exactly a crime, it wasn’t really something that was done on a regular basis. This was somewhere safe, and Callie and Jake could feel it in the air.

 

“This is the training area Raven cordoned off, right?” asked Callie, a look of awe coloring her face. Marcus turned his head towards the adults following him just as they begun hearing grunts and flesh slapping flesh. He was still grinning.

 

“Yes it is.” Marcus smirked at his wife and old friend. He led the two over to the third floor balcony, overseeing the flat training area on the first floor, where, much to Callie and Jake’s surprise, two figures were fighting each other in hand to hand combat.

 

“Is that-?” Jake was staring at the female figure on the first floor, she was on top of the other opponent, holding their slightly larger form down, and obviously knew what she was doing, as she took her time turning to the rest of the people who sat on the sidelines, seemingly explaining them what she had just done, move by move.

 

“Clarke.” smiled Marcus at the show a couple of floors down. “She’s probably the best trained among us all.”

 

Marcus let Jake have a couple more minutes to get used to the idea of his daughter being capable of physical feats of such caliber and then led the two down to the same floor as the others, smiling at the children and Sinclair as they made it to the training area itself.

 

“And this,” Marcus spread his arms wide, as if presenting a show to an eager audience, “is where you two are going to be trained, so when time comes, and we **all** make it to the ground, you would be as capable at protecting yourselves as possible.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No actual Trigedasleng in this one, only clan names...  
> Woods Clan - Trikru / Trigedakru  
> Boat People - Floukru / Floudonkru  
> Ice Nation - Azgeda  
> Desert Clan - Sankru / Sangedakru  
> Lake People - Podakru  
> Delphi Clan - Delfikru  
> Glowing Forest - Trishana  
> Plains Riders - Ingranrona  
> Blue Cliff Clan - Ouskejon Kru  
> Shallow Valley - Louwoda Kliron  
> Rock Line - Boudalan  
> Broadleaf - Yujleda


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you!  
> So... Trigedasleng is back! translations in the notes at the end (it would have messed with the flow of the chapter otherwise...)  
> So I've been doing a lot of world building and I have been using Google Maps for it... Found the actual Mt. Weather... We are one bitter bunch...  
> "The facility is underground and they provided us with a lot of chocolate cake."  
> "They are charged with continuity of operations."  
> "They kidnapped my friends and stole their bone marrow."  
> This is what I found...  
> Well, I hope you all enjoy this one, it actually took a little longer to write than any of the others, had to make sure I didn't leave too many clues about what's to come!  
> Have a great weekend!

The five days they spent in TonDC passed slowly for Lexa, who had to go on as if she hadn’t been shocked time and time again in the past couple of months. She was tired and emotionally drained. She missed Clarke dearly and knowing she had a fairly large group of people more than aware of not only the past, but her very much romantic past with Clarke was not as comforting as one would think. She didn’t particularly avoid Nyko, Indra and Lincoln, but she managed to remain busy enough that her time spent in their company was either short or not unsupervised by unaware warriors.

 

The full day’s ride back to Polis was rather quiet. Dawn to dusk, her warriors realized that their Commander was in one of her quiet moods and let her be, or as Anya made sure to point out as they stopped to let their horses drink and graze, she was in one of her brooding moods that resembled the actions of a petulant child to those who knew her well.

 

She had many matters to take care of as she reached Polis, many messages delivered from the clans she visited some dated after her visit and were to be dealt with at the soonest of opportunities, but some predated her visits and could be discarded of. By the time she was done with the most urgent of her duties, it was closer to dawn than it was to dusk. Lexa snuck away from her tower to the Night Grove, aware of the dangers, she carried her beloved sword with her.

 

Laying down on the grassy floor of the Night Grove, staring at the clear skies above her, she traced her eyes around constellations and the rare occasional clouds in the night’s sky. Soon though, she noticed she was no longer alone. The new presence felt unthreatening, and Lexa had long learned to trust her instincts, She chose to let whoever it was to make the first move towards her. Her dominant hand enveloped the handle of her sword but did not draw it, her eyes still tracing celestial forms and her ears listen to every slight change from the sounds of nature.

 

One stepped closer to the edge of the Grove, but whoever they were, they were not alone.

 

Soft, almost soundless steps marked the entrance of another to the Nightbloods’ only safe haven, Lexa was about to rise when the slight wind carried a familiar scent into her nose. Soft Sandalwood and Musk, Lavender and a hint of sweat. The soft undertones of a child.

 

“ _ aiden _ ” she smiled to herself and the steps grew closer.

 

“ _ heda _ ” this confirmed the fact that the young Nightblood was not on his own, otherwise, her would have called her by her given name. “ _ chit yu ste dula op? _ ” he asked as he sat himself near her head, swirling his fingers through the long grass blades.

 

“ _ gonasleng, aiden.  _ You must practice.” Lexa chose to avoid the question.

 

“What are you doing?” Aden refused to let her.

 

“Watching the stars, Aden, they can teach us much, don’t you think?” Lexa remained with her eyes to the sky but Aden took a page from her book and lay beside her.

 

“Yes?” It seemed that the nine years old had yet to decide where he wants this conversation to lead.

 

“The North Star, for example,” stated Lexa as she pointed at a particularly strong star in the sky, “provides us direction in sea.”

 

Aden nodded despite the fact Lexa could not see him. “And this one? The Wanderer?” he asked about the particular star he spoke of, this star was always moving quickly in the night, disappearing and returning on the other side several times during one night. Lexa smiled to herself once again.

 

“Have I ever told you about the Old Earth legend about Noah and his Ark?” she asked, Aden’s breath quickened only slightly, almost imperceptibly, but the slight rustling in the woods around them was heard quite clearly in the silent night.

 

“No. But I have read it before.” said Aden, his voice close to cracking. Lexa nodded.

 

“You always been well read,  _ stribro _ .” Lexa chose to acknowledge his unique position among the others, letting him know it was alright to speak what was truly on his mind, despite her suspicion that his fellow novitiates were listening in on their conversation.

 

“Do you miss her?” he asks and Lexa furrows her brows.

 

“Costia?” Aden shakes his head as Lexa finally looks at him.

 

“No,” he croaks at his older sister, his mother and idol, all rolled in one. “Clarke.”

 

Lexa’s heart sizes in her chest, she feels cold and hot at once, her eyes tear for the first time in so long and her heart races.

 

“ _ natblida, komba raun hir. _ ” she finally acknowledges the presence of the others. They join the two one the grassy floor and their heads complete a circle.

 

“I miss her very much.” admits Lexa as the last of the Nightbloods settles down, no longer fighting the tears running down the sides of her eyes to her temples and to the grass.

 

“She always smiled when she saw us.” Said Kai one of the youngest novitiates, his dark brown hair flowing with the wind, his dark grey eyes staring at the sky and his olive skin glowing in the moonlight. His English was improving ever since he was brought to  _ polis _ three years before.

 

Lexa smiled at the sky before closing her eyes and remembering all that Clarke was in the old world. “She loved you all. She used to say that you were all a testament that I was something more than what Titus wanted me to be.”

 

Aden caught on quickly that Lexa was in a brooding mood and refused to let her sink into the feeling of loneliness he was sure to follow.

 

“She called us your children,” he said hesitantly. He might be her younger brother, but his life was dependent on her own, if Lexa was to die, the Conclave was soon to follow, and now Aden knew, his chances of winning a fair fight in this young body against Ontari were slim, if she would even give him the courtesy of a fair fight.

 

Lexa waited a bit before answering the unspoken question, the Nightbloods waiting in an unnatural silence. Not a sound heard from them as they were waiting for the woman who for all intent and purpose was their mother once they were brought to  _ polis _ .

 

“You are” she says and resumes her silence, waiting for the Nightbloods to digest her answer.

 

Later, when they all rose to their feet to return to the Tower before Titus noticed they were gone, Lexa would notice tear tracks running down each and every one of her Nightbloods’ cheeks and temples.

 

Sun rose over the hills and forest beyond Polis, bathing them in soft golds and greens, it was a beautiful sight, one that one would not easily forget once seen. Lexa was awake for over 24 hours by the time breakfast was served in the main dining hall of the Commander’s Tower, she was joined by the many clan ambassadors and their people, the Nightbloods were served their own meal at their own floor, Titus claimed many times it was for their protection, but Lexa was sure their were other reasons involved as well.

 

Playing with her food was an unacceptable action, so Lexa took her time between bites and stared hard at the tapestry in front of her, on the other end of the long table, un obscured by another seat, as the place at the head of the table was reserved for  _ heda  _ alone. Thoughts she wished would relent ran through her mind, she did not look forward to the long day that was before her, especially not on so little sleep.

 

“ _ Heda? _ ” One of the ambassadors dared to address her, despite her apparent mood.

 

“ _ Sha? _ ” she granted him her attention.

 

“ _ hakom yu gaf konge oso op? _ ” his question bordered on being insolent, Lexa looked him over, he was Ice Nation. She would have imagined nothing else.

 

“It is for me to know for now. Next time, be silent until given permission to speak of things you know nothing about, Ambassador.” he tone so cold that all the people inside the dining hall, staff or guests, felt a sudden chill running through them as Lexa spoke, one that remained even after she swiftly rose to her feet and left the hall.

 

The meeting Lexa called for was for all intent and purposes a regular one, one where all the members of the coalition requested material and bartered wares, one that was stage for clans to speak of their needs and wants. This one was no different, until in the middle of the meeting the grand double-doors opened in a swift motion and a young man, closer to a child in age than an actual man, walked unsurely into the chamber, his shoulders hunched and his breath labored, Titus stepped inside right after the boy.

 

“ _ heda! _ ” Titus called theatrically, already making Lexa fear an impending headache. “News from the desert,  _ sangedakru _ have a new leader!  _ haihefa dev stedaun, em nomfri, karis ste haiplana! _ ” 

 

Lexa rolled her eyes, she was waiting for this message, and she was sure it was the boy’s mission to tell her of this, but Titus just had to steal the spotlight. Many gasped at his words, but Lexa herself felt relieved, things were following the same path it had in the old world, and her fear of changing too much was slightly elevated.

 

“ _ Taitos, _ ” her tone had only the slightest amount of disdain, which went unnoticed by the self involved man, “ _ em pleni. goufa, _ ” she then addressed the boy that was standing near Titus, still attempting to make himself smaller. He relaxed slightly as Lexa addressed him as a child and not as a warrior, showing she had no intention of harming him at all. “ _ tel ai op. _ ” Lexa’s stare could burn cities, should she turn it to her enemy, but in that chamber, in front of all of her ambassadors, she spoke to the man-child in soft tones, as not to scare him and her gaze a soft forest green that could bring the most frightened of men to trust her.

 

“ _heda,_ _haiplana karis-_ ” Lexa raised her hand to quiet the boy as he stuttered and shifted nervously.

 

“ _ ai goufa, en ste ogud. _ ” the boy nodded and began once again, this time in a clearer voice. “ _ Haiplana karis sen ai op. haihefa dev bilaik stedaun. haiplana karis tel ai gon tel yu em ste bants gon polis taim em kru chil au. _ ”

 

Lexa nodded at the boy and shifted in her throne, she knew the day would come soon, in the old world it happened much sooner, but here, she was sure, Caris wanted a little more time with her father and must have done anything possible to extend his life.

 

“ _ Taitos, dison gaf bag in, woda en dina sentaim, bilaik sisfou en sis em au. _ ” Lexa tone had a biting undertone, showing that she wasn’t pleased with the Flamekeepers attitude. Titus bowed his head, hiding a scrowl as he led the young man away from the Throne Chamber.

 

“ _ Heda, _ ” started the ambassador of  _ sangedakru _ , but Lexa raised a single hand in a signal asking for silence from her ambassadors.

 

“ _ bandrona kom sangedakru, nou na bants disha wogeda taim disha geda ste odon! _ ” The ambassadors all cowered under Lexa’s intense stare as she spoke, the  _ sangeda _ ambassador bowed his head so low that his chin touched his chest.

 

The meeting went on for a few more hours, the air a little tenser and the  _ sangeda _ ambassador sometimes glanced wearily at the doors, wishing he could leave. As soon as the meeting was over the ambassadors left quickly, the  _ sangeda _ ambassador scurried so quickly that the doors weren’t even fully open by the time he disappeared from sight.

 

Lexa sat in her throne a little longer, sighing and thinking over what was decided in the meeting and the message given to her in the middle of it, time was moving forward, and luckily enough for her, it was going down the same way it did in the old world, but it meant that her time was also running out, she couldn’t- wouldn’t let things go down the same way they did once the  _ skaikru _ landed, no, it was all too important to just let them fall into unknown hands, or worse, Nia’s.

 

Going about the rest of the day as she usually did, eating her lunch in the privacy of her bedroom, looking over trade agreements and tertiary arguments, she met with the people of Polis and listened to their troubles, she had a long and tiring day, but as darkness crept across the sky, Lexa left her dealings and made her way to the Nightbloods’ floor, it was late evening, early night time, the younger ones were already asleep, but Aden and Ren were still awake, huddled in Aden’s bedroom.

 

Lexa entered the bedroom and closed the door quietly behind her, she noticed the two were about to stand up to greet her and she shook her head, motioning to the bed in the far side of the room, she sat down on the bed that was pushed up against the wall and scooted back so her back was touching the wall. Aden soon followed, curling himself against her larger form and Ren, hesitantly did so as well. Satisfied the both children were comfortable, Lexa brought her hands to their heads and calmingly stroked their hair.

 

They were filled with unrest and that much was clear to Lexa, she asked them what was it that bothered them, their answer made her nauseous and slightly murderous as well.

“ _ oso mema in chit ontari dula den oso. leksa, em ste laksen. _ ” Aden’s words made her angry, but Ren’s did much more.

 

“ _ hakom ontari dula den disha op? din em gaf ogonzaun in? aiden bilaik heda en oso kikraun, nou heda foutaim winnes em sadgeda ogeda natblida kikraun! _ ” this was all Lexa ever hoped for, for the children she had a hand in raising would question the most brutal of their practices, the Conclave.

 

“ _ ai nou get in, ai goufa, ba en ste ogud nau, oso gada taim in. _ ” Lexa’s soft tone relaxed the two young children farther and as she stroked their hair the two slipped into a deep dreamless sleep, their guardian watching over them.

 

As Lexa slipped quietly away from the two and walked up the hidden steps into her own bedroom, she pondered over what could be done about Ontari now to stop her from hurting the Nightbloods later on. She had many ideas, but none of them as her true wish, to seek out the girl and bring her here, to attempt and deprogram Nia’s teachings, to have another, older. More experienced Nightblood, so come time, Lexa’s legacy won’t be on the shoulders of a boy too young, one that should still have the freedom and innocence of childhood.

 

Lexa was hopeful, but not naive, she hoped to survive, but was more than aware of her own mortality, she just hoped that with everything she was doing now for her people, that her greatest desire would be fulfilled, to see Clarke again.

 

That night Lexa slept easy, she was too tired for her mind to even contemplate over thinking anything at all, her sleep dreamless and worriless, deep and refreshening. The next day she was ready to face the world once again, without any reservations.

 

Weeks gone by and all settled down, Caris had come to Polis to swear her allegiance before the Commander herself, and the rest of the clans were appeased that even the newest leader in the bunch was willing to bow before the Commander and refused to call for war, to reclaim their lone ownership over their own people and lands.

 

It was a regular day of meetings and teaching the Nightbloods when Paul, the Chief of the  _ delfikru _ stepped into the Throne Chamber, followed by a small company of warriors, all of them unarmed and all with an outstandingly excited expression on their faces.

 

“ _ hedaI _ ” Paul’s cry was anything but orthodox, but when Titus jumped to defend his Commander, she stopped him, there was no denying the excitement in the Chieftain's voice.

 

“ _ amin pol, chit bilaik disha? _ ” Lexa was on her feet at once, her voice betraying her curiosity, this never happened in the old world. She hoped that this meant the sky had fallen before time, but it was not it, not that the news were disappointing in any way or form.

 

“ _ Heda, ai gonakru don hon kriken houd kappa op! _ ” Lexa’s brows furrowed, Polis was an old world city as well, what was so special, their entire world was built upon the ruins of the old world.

 

“ _ houd kappa, heda! Noumou hod don op foutaim! _ ” Lexa froze, an entire, untouched old world city was never found before, not even in the other world.

 

“ _ mochof, amin pol. taitos, konge bandrona kom en kru op, nau. _ ” gathering them all to discuss this matter might be a little risky, but she had no idea what else to do, and if there's one thing she was sure of, that despite it being in  _ delfikru _ territory, an old world city belongs to them all. Just as Titus was about to leave the Throne Chamber, the doors flung open and inside stumped Anya, her battle gear all intact and heavy, her eyes smeared with war paint and her hair and clothes painted red with blood.

 

“ _ heda _ ” she heaved, her breath laboured as if she just ran all the way up the stairs (Lexa was willing to bet she did) “ _ moba, heda. ste maun-de, heda, emo teik in hompleikru kom tondisi honon! _ ” it took Lexa every bit of her mental power to not roll her eyes and wish that Clarke and her people would hurry up and fall down from their home in the sky a little earlier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> chit yu ste dula op? - What are you doing?  
> gonasleng, aiden - English, Aden.  
> Stribro - Little brother  
> natblida, komba raun hir. - Nightbloods, come here.  
> Sha? - Yes?  
> hakom yu gaf konge oso op? - Why have you gathered us all here?  
> haihefa dev stedaun, em nomfri, karis ste haiplana! - King Dave is dead, his daughter, Caris is the Queen.  
> Taitos - Titus  
> em pleni. Goufa, - It’s enough. Child  
> tel ai op. - Tell me.  
> heda, haiplana karis - Commander, Queen Caris  
> ai goufa, en ste ogud. - My child, everything is fine.  
> Haiplana karis sen ai op. haihefa dev bilaik stedaun. haiplana karis tel ai gon tel yu em ste bants gon polis taim em kru chil au. - Queen Caris sent me. King Dave is dead. Queen Caris told me to tell you that she will leave for Polis as soon as her people calm down.  
> Taitos, dison gaf bag in, woda en dina sentaim, bilaik sisfou en sis em au. - Titus, this one needs a bed, water and food as well. Be helpful and help him out.  
> bandrona kom sangedakru, nou na bants disha wogeda taim disha geda ste odon! - Ambassador of the Desert Clan, no one leaves this room until the meeting is over!  
> oso mema in chit ontari dula den oso. leksa, em ste laksen. - We remember what Ontari did to us. Lexa, it hurts.  
> hakom ontari dula den disha op? din em gaf ogonzaun in? aiden bilaik heda en oso kikraun, nou heda foutaim winnes em sadgeda ogeda natblida kikraun! - Why did Ontari did this to us? Didn’t she want peace? Aden was the Commander and we were alive. No Commander won his/her Conclave with all the Nightbloods left alive before!  
> ai nou get in, ai goufa, ba en ste ogud nau, oso gada taim in. - I don’t know, my child, but it’s fine, we have time.  
> amin pol, chit bilaik disha? - Master Paul, what is this?  
> Heda, ai gonakru don hon kriken houd kappa op! - Commander, my warriors found an old world city!  
> houd kappa, heda! Noumou hod don op foutaim! - A whole city, Commander! No one have found before!  
> mochof, amin pol. taitos, konge bandrona kom en kru op, nau. - Thank you, Master Paul. Titus, gather all of the ambassadors, now.  
> moba, heda. ste maun-de, heda, emo teik in hompleikru kom tondisi honon! - Sorry, Commander. It’s the Mountain, they took a hunting party from TonDC prisoners!


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this one took a little longer than expected...  
> Have a great weekend, all of you!

Thwack. Thwack.

 

Dodge left, then right.

 

Pivot, another kick, another punch.

 

Sweat dripping.

 

Muscles sore from use.

 

Stale air, humming of machines.

 

She dodges again, grinning, she actually had to try this time, they were getting better, both of them, no- all of them.

 

They stop and she finally lets her breath settle, she looks around the floor, this is the first time in months that they all managed to clear some time and make it down to the training area.

 

She then turned towards the man before her, smiling at him brightly, his hands on his knees, his breath laboured, but he was standing. She was proud, of him, of the others.

 

He looks up and Clarke finally catches her father’s eyes. He smiles back, an exhausted grin. His eyes twinkling as he straightens, stretching sore muscles and rolling his neck experimentally, she hit him on the upper back a little too hard, she thinks as she watches her father grimace, but than again, no one would ever give this kind of a hit a second thought in a real fight, though she did hope it would never come to this.

 

“How was it?” Jake asked his daughter playfully, and she answered the same way in return.

 

“You need to keep up, old man! We don’t have much time left!”

 

She might have been joking, but truth was, they didn’t have any time left at all, if they wanted things to go their way, they would have to act soon. Her 17th birthday was closing in, and fact was, that in the old world, she was in solitary already by this time, but now, with their foreknowledge, nothing was said to Thelonious just yet, they were holding on a little while longer, Marcus, Jake, Jacopo and Callie were working on a plan to get the original 100 to the ground without Jake being floated, which meant that Clarke and the rest would have to do something stupid, not that it was much different than usual, but this time they would have to be found.

 

“Well, old man or not, you are doing much better, Jake.” Marcus was always one to encourage those around him, but this time, it cost him dearly. Callie who he was sparring against, noticed his attention wandering and took her chance to bring him down, she succeeded.

 

Marcus did not lose his grin as he went down unexpectedly and even broadened his smile as Callie offered him a hand to get back on his feet. “You too, my love.” he joked as Raven and John snickered from the sidelines, Octavia looked at the loving couple with a soft smile. Monty, Miller and Harper were all on the upper floors, running and lifting weights, leaving the others more space on the sparring floor.

 

“Pay attention, Marcus, or you will lose an arm someday.” said Clarke seriously and then let through a small smile. “Great job, Callie”

 

Callie smiled at her goddaughter, wiping her forehead on the bottom of her shirt, they were all soaked in sweat and breathing hard. It took a lot from them to train this hard with so little oxygen. They were sorer than they should have been and the hunger that plagued all of them was constant, like their training. Building muscles takes protein, or any kind of increased intake, something they did not have. They lost weight, all of them, they slimmed down and their muscles built slowly over time, but their shape was much better than any of the ever were.

 

Clarke couldn’t help but worry, they might be ready physically wise, but the plan they had for sending down the 100 was risky. Very risky.

 

In the past year, Jake Griffin and Jacopo Sinclair headed a project to salvage what could salvage from all of the Ark’s dropships, or so the rest of the people were told. In truth, they were fixing up whatever they could, dropships, Ark stations, anything that was set to touch the ground sooner rather than later, they transferred material to areas they knew would make it to the ground safely and secured whatever machines they could, focusing on those that created medical equipment, they took inventory of everything and everyone, they begun sabotaging the firearms in the Ark’s armory, those that weren’t issued and then they moved on to those that were, they did everything in their power to make sure the plan went smoothly, but even they didn’t know what was going on down on the ground, they were taking the risk that someone, an ally remembered something, and that there would be those who were willing to help.

 

They fixed each and everyone of the dropships, especially those who could house about a 100 people, knowing they would need them first, they added hidden communications devices and reinforced what was there, they made sure the parachutes were all good to go and the drop location on all of the dropships was locked on the same spot the 100 landed last time, hopefully, this time they would land without burning down half of the forest.

 

Getting to the dropship was the harder part of it all. But they planned for this as well. In the past few months, the law got tighter and more and more teenagers were caught and thrown into the SkyBox, luckily for them, for now, they were all part of the original 100. But a lot could still change.

 

*** ***

 

“Before we begin, I just wanted to say great job you guys on last week’s test, you all passed with flying colors!”

 

Earth Skills was the one class you could be sure that at any given lesson you would find a napping student or a scowling child that thought that this lesson was utterly pointless, not that Charles Pike blamed them, they were not going to set their feet on the ground, and the only ones who actually remembered anything from this set of classes were the ones who eventually either became historians or Earth Skills teachers themselves.

 

They have been stuck on this rotating rust basket the past five generations, and were set to stay another four or so generations, this kids before him would be lucky to see their great grandchildren set their feet back on the planet.

 

Given all that, an all around good grades were far and few between in his class, therefore, each time he had an all around success in a class, Charles Pike made sure to note this before the children, in hopes they would try and recreate the achievement. Those were only pipe dreams though.

 

“Now, does anyone have any questions? We are about to begin our section of life on Earth, From Seaweed to Man, what would die, what would stay?” Charles jokingly used an ominous tone, trying to breath some life into the lesson, he knew these studies were tedious, but they were also a necessity. Someone had to pass this knowledge on, s that someday in the future someone might use it, on the ground.

 

“No? Good. Let us begin!” And so the lesson went on. Charles drowned on about wildlife and the possible mutations they might have gone through, time and time again, he reminds his young students on the incredibly high levels of radiation on the ground and tells them that in all likelihood, the only life left on the planet would be the plans, more intelligent lifeforms would be either killed off in the initial blasts or in the years soon after.

 

Charles ends their lesson with a rather tear inducing speech on how despite being the last of their kind, stuck in the sky, they held the hope of mankind, and that theirs was the duty to be the revivers of the planet when the day would come. Just as he was about to release their class, a slender hand went up, it was a rather small girl in the back of the class, Charles smiled at her brightly.

 

“Yes, Charlotte, do you have anything to add?” he asks, he was very happy to see someone participate in his lessons willingly.

 

“I have a question.” said Charlotte her tone serious and her eyes wide, determined, Charles’ attention was now focused solely on her, as he had never seen this expression on this young girl before.

 

“Ask away” he motions with his arm for the girl to take back the spotlight.

 

“What if there are survivors on the ground?”

 

Charles Pike was now sure he knew what a heart attack felt like.

 

*** ***

 

“Mr. Blake, Thank you for agreeing to meet with me.” Marcus said pleasantly to the young man before him, as he sat down in front of his desk.

 

“As if I had a choice,” muttered Bellamy under his breath. Marcus sighed, he hoped this would go a little better.

 

“As a second year cadet you will soon be joining the lines of our main guard, before that is to happen, I have to interview each and every cadet, to make sure they…-”

 

“Fit in?” asked Bellamy, a scowl clear on his features.

 

“Are ready.” sighs Marcus, this was already going badly, or at least seemed like it was.

 

“I am, ready, I mean.” perks Bellamy, his tone though, it sets Marcus on edge, the boy was a little too eager for his tastes, especially knowing what kind of secret the boy was hiding from the rest of the general population.

 

Before he always thought Bellamy’s only reason to join the Guard was his sister’s safety, now, he wasn’t as sure.

 

“I know you feel you are.” calms Marcus, “but it’s my job to make sure you are.”

 

Bellamy rolls his eyes and Marcus fights another sigh.

 

“Please, let me do my job, so you can begin and do yours.”

 

“Fine, what do you need to know?” says Bellamy, his arms crossing in front of his chest. It’s a protective position, the boy has something to hide, but that much Marcus already knows.

 

“Why did you join the Guard?” the most simple question.

 

“To protect what’s mine.” the most worrying answer to this question.

 

“What do you mean?” asked Marcus, hoping to get a better answer.

 

“I want to protect my things, you know, my house, my family.”

 

Marcus continues to question Bellamy, his questions having to do mostly with Guard duty and what the boy would like to do most on his rotations and the rest of his answers were just as worrying, he was violent and he was trying to mellow it down, but he wasn’t hiding his tendencies, in fact, he was showing them off, like a peacock spreading his tail and then pecking his rival’s eyes out.

 

Bellamy was the wildcard for their plan, he wasn’t aware, Octavia made sure of that, so they couldn’t plan accordingly to what they already knew he thought about the grounders, but his thirst for power and his cruelty was something they were all aware of, and the planned accordingly.

 

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Blake, I hope to see you on rotations sooner rather than later.” Bellamy nodded, his scowl firmly in place, he rose from the seat and left the office, Marcus was sure that if he could, he would have slammed the door shut after him.

 

*** ***

 

“Thelonious! Marcus! Do you have a minute?” Charles Pike was jogging lightly to the two council members walking side by side, on their way to the mess hall.

 

“Of course. What can we do for you, Charles?” Thelonious voice was smooth like oil, it still made Marcus shudder as he thought about all that Thelonious was hiding and all that he had done back on the ground.

 

“I have a student, her name is Charlotte, and she asked me a question today that made me think.”

 

Thelonious motioned for Charles to go on.

 

“She asked about survivors on the ground! What if she’s right? What if there are people on the ground?”

 

Marcus froze, fortunately for him, so did Thelonious.

 

“That’s ridiculous, Charles, you know that! With the amounts of radiation, no one would be able to survive the bombing, not even people on the outskirts. If the bombs didn’t kill them, the radiation already did!”

 

Marcus unfreezes but still isn’t moving, he wants to see how this is going to pan out.

Could be that Charles remembers? Or was it Charlotte? Both?

 

“It would be great though, right? Maybe we can go back!”

 

“This student of yours has given you outlandish ideas, Charles, you better calm yourself. There’s nothing good to come from hoping for the impossible.” Thelonious then continued his way to the mess hall, leaving Charles and Marcus behind.

 

Just as they were about to leave, each their own way, a couple of young guards were running towards them.

 

“Sir! Sir! Sir-” The one to reach them first stopped and took a second to breath heavily, his heart racing and his breaths uneven.

 

“There’s a fight, next to the mess hall!” Marcus is about to roll his eyes when the second guard joins in.

 

“We can’t stop it, the participants, sir, they are all underage!” There’s a lot to be said about Ark law, and even their treatment to underage prisoners, but there is one procedure on how to deal with brawls and that is knocking all participants out with the shockstick, but dealing this amount of electricity into a child’s heart may stop it, therefore, it’s outlawed.

 

Marcus nods. 

 

“Take me there!” he calls out and the three start jogging down the corridor, leaving a very worried Charles Pike behind.

 

The sight before Marcus eyes when he gets to the fighting is one that both saddens him and gladdens him greatly, Charlotte is sitting on her opponent's torso, holding him down, not a scratch on her, but her cheek is swelling slightly, Marcus was sure that would sure to turn into a nasty bruise. The other child though, he was laying on the floor, his left eye swollen shut and his lip split open and lazily trickling blood down his chin. There’s nothing to prove that Charlotte wasn’t the one to hit him except the fact her knuckles were clean and unharmed, but that wasn’t enough, not on the Ark.

 

Marcus motioned to the two guards to follow his lead. He walked behind Charlotte and pulled her back, holding her arms tight against her body. The guards taking the time to hold down the other boy, one holding him down and the other calling in with MedBay.

 

Charlotte struggles as he cuffs her and continues to do so as he leads her down the corridor, towards the nearest guard station. She would be held there and sent to the SkyBox in the next few hours, to only come out again when she’s 18, if she passes her review.

 

*** ***

 

It’s a few hours later that Jake finds Thelonious back at his office, he is standing at the window overlooking the Earth as he sips from a cup of what Jake is pretty sure is an alcoholic beverage, despite them being as close to as forbidden on the Ark, as one can get without actually outlawing something.

 

“What can I do for you, Jake?” asked the Chancellor of the Ark, his old friend.

 

“We don’t have much time, Thelonious, systems are failing, one by one, soon we will all die if we don’t do something now.” Jake’s tone is urgent and that catches Thelonious attention.

 

“Very well, Jake, you may have your team. The one you requested before, to look over the system and look for whatever it is you are looking for.” His tone is dismissive, but Jake came here to warn him, not to ask for favors.

 

“It’s too late, Thelonious. There’s nothing to fix.” He finally turns to Jake and sees his sagging shoulders and tired expression.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“The Ark is dying, Thelonious and because you chose to wait and see, there is nothing I can do now.”

 

“Are you questioning my decisions, Jake?” now Thelonious was angry.

 

“Yes. Isn’t that what the council is supposed to do?” With that Jake turns on his heels and exits the office, he had done his piece, now it was Thelonious’ turn.

 

Thelonious stayed where Jake found him, knocking back the rest of his drink, wondering if to pour himself another, but just as he was reaching for the bottle, his office’s door opened and a couple, a very angry couple entered, a couple of guards behind them. The couple’s expression was furious and Thelonious immediately knew who they were. The girl’s parents, the one that was thrown just earlier that day into the Sky Box.

 

“What is the meaning of this?” raved the father, his face red with anger and dried tear tracks down his cheeks gave him a rather tragic appearance.

 

“Your daughter beat someone bloody, she knows the rules.” Thelonious was calm as he explained, he was the Chancellor, his actions were for the good of the people, even if they didn’t think so.

 

“She’s 11 years old! The law states that until she’s 12 she’s not responsible for her actions, we are.” says the mother, and Thelonious almost rolls his eyes.

 

“She’s close enough in age.”

 

“She’s not 12!” yells the father, and this time Thelonious does roll his eyes, this infuriates the couple even more.

 

“Would you like to take responsibility for her actions? This would be a death sentence for you both.”

 

“Why? It’s never been like this before, she’s under 12!”

 

“The laws have changed.”

 

“Better us than her.” says the mother and the father nods along, they were ready to sacrifice their lives for their daughter, and that what separated them and the Chancellor of the Ark.

 

*** ***

 

News about the new laws made their way throughout the Ark by dinnertime, the execution was set for the morning, Charlotte was to be set free the moment her parents were on the other side of the airlock. She would be given a couple of minutes to say goodbye, and that was it.

 

Clarke remembered very well what happened the last time Charlotte was left to her own devices after her parents death, and this was their chance.

 

The morning of the execution, Clarke skipped breakfast to make her way to the airlock early. To her surprise she found Wells standing in the corner, right before the line created by the Guard so people would not cross over during the execution.

 

She and Wells were still best friends, she has some secrets from him, but she tries to be as honest as possible in all other facets of life. She even tells him about her ‘crush’ on another girl, although she doesn’t tell him it’s someone who is alive on the ground, and she tells him she’s working out because she feels it’s the only way she can let all of her frustrations go. She let’s him into the training area from time to time, when she knows they’ll be alone, but she never tells him the passcode. Wells still understands her, without telling him everything. He knows she’s hiding something big, but he is willing to let that be, and still be the best friend anyone could dream of.

 

“Wells? What are you doing here?” she asks as she stands shoulder to shoulder with him in the corner.

 

“Same as you, watching injustice happen, incapable of doing anything to stop it.” there’s anger in his voice, on his face, in his tense shoulders and in his jumpy legs.

 

“Wells. I’m sorry.” she doesn’t know what to tell him, he is right. This is injustice. They stand there in silence, staring at the airlock that would soon be the death of two innocent people. The hall around them is filled with working class people, they trickle in slowly, angry and sorrowful expressions, no one thinks this is the right thing to do.

 

Right before the execution, Clarke and Wells are joined by John, Raven, Nathan, Monty and Harper, they all stand there quietly, Wells is looking at them all with a curious expression on his face, but they pay him no mind, they are here for something, and they will get what they came for.

 

Everything is in place, Charlotte is being held by one of the burlier guards on the force and her parents are cuffed and standing on the other side of the airlock, the doors to their side are still open, but as the doors close, there is silence in the hall, despite the dozens of people standing there, watching on as their people are being thrown out to the vacuum of space without reason. Commander Shumway pushes the button,

 

Two bodies are yanked into space.

 

A sharp cry.

 

A few well placed elbows.

 

Chaus.

 

Clarke barely has time, when she and the others charge to the guards and Shumway, as she sees Wells doing the same, to ask why. He answers in three words that make Clarke tear and sob with relief.

 

“Time’s running out!”

 

*** ***

 

The Ark’s council members all gathered in the Council Chamber at the Chancellor’s request. Sitting around the table and standing around in half a circle. The full council stood before their elected Chancellor and stared on as the man dares offer a suggestion so outlandish, they feared the man was going mad.

 

“The Ark’s time is running out, our engineering team found a flaw, that perhaps had they found it earlier could have been fixed.”

 

Jake Griffin was not a violent man, but right then, he was more than willing to stray from his peaceful ways to punch his once best friend in the mouth.

 

Abby looked at her husband, worried, he never told her anything about such a thing. Jake looked back at her and nodded slightly at her, he tried to smile but it turned more into a grimace, Abby nodded back, he would tell her later, she was sure of that.

 

“I’ve called you all here, to offer a solution. What we need is time and resources, but we also need a plan B, what I am about to offer is a solution to both.

We will be sending a team to the ground. To scout, to see if it’s survivable, this would offer us more resources, which means more time.”

 

Many council members shifted nervously, what their Chancellor was offering was a sure death sentence to those who volunteered to land on the planet.

 

“Who would volunteer to walk to their death?” is finally asked by one of the Argo Station representatives.

 

“And how the hell would it help with resources?” asked another representative, this time, from Orchid Station.

 

“Air,” says one of the Arrow Station representatives. “It would help conserve air, which we are running low on.”

 

Thelonious nods solemnly, but Jake and Marcus both see the act behind it, he could have prevented this, or at least helped them be more prepared for it all.

 

“You are all right, but you have mistaken my words, there would be no volunteers.” he let the words sink in.

“We have 99 prisoners in Prison Station.” Prison Station representatives all around them nod at the truth in the Chancellor’s words, but the others all gasp in astonishment.

 

“They are all minors!” calls Abby, appalled.

 

“True!” says the Flint Station representative, he was just as horrified as Abby, he had dedicated his life to the future of the Ark, to their children, all those in the SkyBox used to be under his care, some of them were residents of the Orphanage, some made their way through Flint Station for classes. 

 

“They are all criminals.” stresses Thelonious but it goes unheard as the Mecha Station rep growls it’s against their laws to touch the lives of the Ark’s underage citizens.

 

“Laws can be changed!” roars Thelonious and the chamber is drowned in silence.

 

“You are basically offering to sacrifice the lives of our children so we can have a little longer to live?” Abby croaked. “Our children! Thelonious, Clarke and Wells are both on Prison Station!”

 

“It’s their own fault, Abby, we need this, we need them to do this for us!” roars Thelonious and then settles. “We have 99 prisoners, we will add another guard, and we will have a round 100, the ground team would all wear a bracelet on their wrist that will transmit life signs to medical, this way we can follow on how the ground affects them. We will use the smallest dropship we have it’s good for 110 souls, but we are not about to lose good more guards than we can afford.”

 

“If you want your round 100, sir, you might want to hurry up.” says one of the oldest Prison Station reps, he was a foul man, in charge of the SkyBox and it’s residents. “One of our newest… guests… is about to turn 18 in a couple of weeks. Reyes, Raven Reyes, one of your, isn’t she, Sinclair?”

 

Jacopo fought himself not to answer in anger, this was good for them, this was what they were waiting for.

 

“Very well,” says Thelonious as he rises to his feet. “You have until the end of the week to ready the dropship,” he says to Jake and Sinclair. “Marcus, your newest guard, they Factory Station boy, what was it, Blake? He should do. Abby, work with Sinclair on the wristbands. And all! Remember! This is not to be discussed outside of the people in this room, we do not need a panic on our hands!” With this closing statement, the council was dismissed.

 

“Can you believe this?!” raged Abby to Callie as the walk towards the room’s exit. Callie places a calming hand on Abby’s shoulder.

 

“It will all work out, Abby, I promise, this cannot be the end of us.”

 

*** ***

 

Later that night, they meet with Octavia in the training area in the part they left for the planning portion of their mission. All around them were satellite maps of the ground, both recent ones and samples of ones before the war, they are all marked with the known and unknown, they are all in use, to make sure everyone know the lay of the land.

 

“We will come for you when we are loading the dropship. Once everyone are inside, we would let you in, as one of the prisoners.” Marcus explains the plan to Octavia.

 

“How?” she asks.

 

“Callie would come and knock on the vent nearest to your family’s quarters twice, you would be waiting there. She would lead you to the dropship. I will take you from there. I will cuff you and make sure to hide your face. You will closest to the door and hopefully near one of the others, I will uncuff you as soon as you are strapped in. Then, it’s all on you guys.”

 

Octavia nods in understanding.

 

“We are a go!” cheers Jake.

 

Marcus smiles nervously.

 

“We are a go.”

 

*** ***

 

“Good.”

 

“What is?”

 

“They are early on the timeline.”

 

“And it’s a good thing?”

 

“Yeah!”

 

“Why?”

 

“They are taking their lives in their hands! We can finally bring them home!”

 

“You don’t know that’s going to work, C.”

 

“I do. It has to…”

 

“I hope, for your sake, C.”

 

“Not mine, theirs.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No trig in this one... *sad face* I love trig... I actually recently found myself answering questions in trig when I'm tired, I really have to do something about that...


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a bit later than usual, and this chapter was written in a rush, therefore wasn't beta read, but I've been busy all week and barely had time to breath.  
> On the other hand, spent last night in the SIA concert that was in Tel Aviv, so many people! we thankfully spend the extra money on the Golden Ring (by we I mean my baby sister and me) so we were really close to the stage, Stephani (the lead dancer) was phenomenal, really.  
> So after a night of fun, and then the nightmare that was the train ride home, really, they could have orgenized everything a little better - I woke up and set to work on this chapter.
> 
> Next week's would either come early or late, but I'm set for a weekend shift, so I would be on base all weekend with no access to computers, sorry you guys!  
> Enjoy today's chapter. Have a great weekend!

“Jake?” Abby’s voice carried in their rather small quarters, emptier than ever now that Clarke was held in the SkyBox.

 

“Clarke’s!” called Jake’s voice, he sounded out of breath, and he was, he was busy packing up whatever he could, to make sure to add it to the drop-ship’s cargo.

 

Abby joined him there and was surprised to find him packing. He was working hard and lifting even the heavy furniture that made Clarke’s bedroom, Abby was quick to call him to stop exerting himself, Jake chuckled.

 

“This is hardly exerting myself, Babe, I’ve done much worse at work…” Jake welcomed his wife with a quick kiss to her slightly open lips, smiling when her shocked expression haven’t changed.

 

“You aren’t supposed to.” she parrots from the house rules everyone knows, no exercise or any other form of exertion except when called for by their station supervisor, consuming an exact amount of water, waste disposal regulated by the appropriate personal and such, these were the hard life of the Ark citizens.

 

“Well, I wouldn’t have to if Thelonious had done his job right!” huffs Jake as he stacks another box on the top of the small pile he already placed in the corner of the room.

 

“Thelonious?” questions Abby, but her husband’s relentless packing annoys her enough to distract her. “Jake! Why are you packing Clarke’s stuff? We can’t give up now! We will get her back!” Clarke might have been arrested with her friends for ‘Disturbing the Peace’, but Abby was adamant on getting her daughter back as soon as she turned 18. Now with Thelonious’ plan, she believed it was a matter of getting her released sooner. Legally or not…

 

“We will!” smiles Jake at his wife as he packs another box of Clarke’s clothes. “On the ground.”

 

Abby is startled. “What? No! Jake, we can’t let Thelonious send her down with the rest of the prisoners!” Jake was about to explain himself when Abby continued on with her tirade. “She might be in the SkyBox, but you know our daughter, Jake, she would never do anything to harm others! She doesn’t deserve to be there, Thelonious knows that, you’ll see, Thelonious won’t send Clarke to the ground with the others, he won’t send his own son to a sure death.”

 

“Abby” sighed Jake and stopping his packing to place his arms around his beloved wife. “Thelonious had done many things in the past couple of years, most of them - Abby - were for his own gain, and never the right things.” Abby pulled back slightly, looking at her husband in surprise.

 

“Jake? Does it have to do with the council’s plan?”

 

Jake nodded, smiling sadly.

 

“I told Thelonious about the system failure a couple of years back, he refused to allow me the personnel and resources to fix it, not that I’m sure that it could have been fixed, but he ignored my warnings, and now, here we are, on the verge of destruction. Abby, Clarke being sent to the ground is a good thing, staying here, that’s a sure ticket to the other side, but the ground, Abby, the ground could be the solution we are all looking for. The permanent solution.”

 

“Nothing? That doesn’t sound like our Thelonious, Jake.”

 

“Power corrupts.” Abby heard that phrase many times, but never directed at their old time friend.

 

“Jake, the ground is still poisonous, they won’t survive, and even if the did survive the drop, they would die a very slow, very painful death.”

 

“Abby, I’ve known about the problem for years now, do you really think I haven’t been doing the research into anything that could be a plausible solution? We have been watching the ground since Thelonious first refused to allot us the personnel needed to fix the system.”

 

“We? Us? Jake - who are you working with?” Jake grins at his wife and starts counting his compliances. Knowing that this time around, his wife was doubting Thelonious enough that she won’t be sharing any of this with him.

 

“Jacopo Sinclair was a really big help, his trainee’s, Raven Reyes and Monty Green were fantastic, really, Marcus and Callie were always a great source of information, and Clarke never disappointed either, then there are their friends, all really helpful, willing to do the dirty work and check out whatever we planned and whatever we invented to give us feedback on the systems that would go into the dropships. Harper McIntyre, Nathan Miller and John Murphy, we had  a great team, really, we are ready for this, they are ready for this.”

 

“You planned for this.” realizes Abby and Jake smiles sadly at her. “Clarke’s arrest was intentional, wasn’t it?”

 

“We had to get them on the dropship somehow. Abby, we knew the first one’s to go won’t be scientists and other volunteers. Why risk valuable life, right?” Abby started glaring at her husband, her face flushing with anger.

 

“How could you hide this from me?”

 

“We didn’t have a choice, Abby, the less that knew what was going on, the less chances we had at getting caught.”

 

“You involved our daughter -our only child!- in a suicide mission!”

 

“Actually, she was the one who involved me - in a suicide mission, Clarke called me in when she found out about the system failure from Raven, who’s apparently, a friend of her’s.” The practiced words flowed out of his mouth swiftly and surely, but he couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for hiding the truth from his wife.

 

“Jake” said Abby as she sat heavily on Clarke’s bed. “Our daughter’s life is in danger.”

 

“I know.” Jake simply replied as he sat down next to his wife, gathering her in his arms, letting her tears soak his ragged shirt.

 

“You say you’ve been watching the Earth, what have you seen?” Abby was still sobbing, but her words were clear as if she was addressing the council.

 

“Change.” Says Jake, but doesn’t elaborate.

 

“What does it mean?” pressed Abby.

 

“Clusters of light, fields of vegetation that had to be planted by man, Abby, we think there are people on the ground.”

 

Abby stopped crying as her husband’s words reached her and sank into her mind.

 

“You really believe that?”

 

“We have to, Abby, because otherwise, we are sending the brightest of our future generation into their death.”

 

*** ***

 

Hours later, as Jake and Marcus worked together to transfer the boxes they packed for their young comrades, Marcus noticed Jake was being quieter than what he would consider normal. His eyes were wide and his mouth set in a straight line. Something was surely wrong.

 

“Jake? Is everything okay?” Jake took a second to look at his friends and then sighed.

 

“Abby asked me about the drop.”

 

“We knew it would come.” reminded him Marcus gently.

 

Jake nodded sadly.

 

“I know, but lying to my wife is still hard, even if it’s to keep her safe.”

 

“It’s not only her,” sighed Marcus. “We have the kids to think about, our’s and the other 93 kids we are sending down there.”

 

Jake smiled grimly at his friend, readjusting the boxes in his arms to a more comfortable position, they had a little while longer to walk before they reach the drop ship.

 

A few short minutes later they reach the busy airlock, the manpower left for them to work with was small, but they made do, as everything was already fixed and programmed by them in the past couple of years, all was left to do was to load up the boxes they packed and they were all good to go, of course that couldn’t be told to the rest of the crew, so Sinclair took it upon himself to attach redundant systems to the drop ship, so the others could check them out and reprogram them to their hearts’ delight. This gave the 100 another system to work with, and one that also required another, smaller generator, that while it juiced up by solar radiation, it also stored it better and allowed them to move it with them, giving them access to power even away from the drop ship, something that the others didn’t know they needed.

 

As they work with Sinclair to load up the boxes, under the guise of it being spare parts to fix the main engine, Marcus turns to Jake with an offer.

 

“We can tell her the truth.”

 

“No.” sighed Jake, resigned. “She won’t believe us, this is too outlandish to believe without proof, and we have none. It’s safer for all of us to just leave her in the dark.”

 

Marcus nods sagely, he understands his friend’s reasoning, but still can’t help but feel sorry that he has to hide so much from his wife.

 

*** ***

 

A week later all the preparations are over, and it’s time to load the kids to the drop ship.

 

At a few minutes to midnight, a faint series of knocks can be heard through the air ducts system in the upper deck of Factory Station, only a handful of people hear them and even less people know what they mean.

 

Octavia sneaks one last look at her sleeping mother, and a scrowl at her brother’s empty bed, she turns to the ceiling, right above the dining table, was the air duct that would take her a section away from her mother’s quarters and into the waiting arms of Callie Cartwright, and later, the ground.

 

Jumping silently to the top of the table, she stretched herself to reach the grating that covered the entrance, she pulled them open, letting them hang to the side, held by a couple of bolts that were pulled loose beforehand, unlike the other two that were completely taken out and replace by a small bit of tape.

 

Crouching, she prepared herself for the silent, high jump she would have to take to hang on to the two small bars that were installed there by Raven a couple of years back. With a practiced motion she jumped and held on to the small bars at the side of the air duct. She slowly pulled herself inside, legs first. She remained in this position, hanging upside down for a moment longer, looking at her mother’s sleeping form for what might be the last time.

 

“Goodnight Mom. May we meet again.”

 

She pulled herself up by her arms and let her legs fall slightly against the metal walls, leaning until she felt them lose the support, she smirked to herself as she slid them in, as far as she could, then climbed with her hands to the point she could lay in the new bend.  Turning on her stomach, she began crawling silently yet quickly, first over the gap where she came from and then onto the next duct which led straight to her exit.

 

Callie was ready for this. Despite her doubts, they made it, they were at the time where they had to separate for a little while, to allow the kids to work their magic on the grounders.

 

She waited in the shadows for Octavia to show up, a dark hoodie in her hand. Octavia would wear it, hood low on her eyes and her hands in her pockets, while Callie would lead her, an arm around her shoulders, as if she was leading a stray, rebellious teenager back to their quarters. When they would reach the airlock, sh would be handcuffed by Marcus and led to the line, she would be last, from there, she would be on her own.

 

Octavia made it just in time.

 

“Are you ready for this?” asked Callie, she was worried, Octavia was still the youngest.

 

“Even if I weren’t,” says the girl that spent the last month slightly isolated from everyone and everything while her friends were in the SkyBox. “I don’t have much of a choice.”

 

“We always have a choice.” said Callie as she helped Octavia to zip up the hoodie. Octavia smiled sadly at her, she almost pitied her naive thinking.

 

“Not this time, I don’t.” They were on their way to the ground. Finally.

 

*** ***

 

The night was silent in the SkyBox, each cell was isolated from sound, making each prisoner believe they were completely alone in their solitude. This silence was broken by the sound of her cell door opening with a bang. It was time.

 

“Prisoner 3-1-9, face the wall.” Like last time, two burly guards entered the cell and she stood on her feet quickly, perhaps quicker than she should have, but they hardly took notice, they were too hyped up by whatever it is that was happening to pay much attention to the prisoner drawing in charcoal on the floor.

 

“What is this?” she asks quietly, she tries to remember the confusion she felt last time around and channel that into her every action now.

 

“Quiet! Hold out your right arm.”

 

“No. No.” her voice was shuddering just right. “But it’s not my time! I don’t turn 18 for another month!”

 

“Hold out your arm.”

 

“No!” her panic almost felt real, she took a deep breath in, focusing on her goal of making her fear seem real, it won’t do they would be found out now, when they were so close. “Just check my file!”

 

This time though, there was no watch for them to take. She held out her arm, letting them place the wristband on her. She winced slightly as the barbs cut her skin, as was appropriate, she felt much worse without even blinking, but they didn’t know that.

 

As soon as they let her arm go, she went running. She wasn’t about to go quietly, it just wasn’t her.

 

Running into the corridor she turned as soon as she reached the rail, she could for a second see all the teenagers being led away from their cells.

 

“Prisoner 3-1-9!” The guards finally opened the door, running after her.

 

“Clarke, stop!” she really should have expected that despite the truth being kept away from her, her mother would still be involved in all of this.

 

“Mom?”

 

“Wait here,” her mother pushed away the guard running after her.

 

“Mom? What is this?” she gulped down her tears theatrically, her mother looking at her in both pit and wonder, she was buying her act.

 

“What you planned.” whispered Abby just for her to hear. Or rather, she was told the version that they planned for.

 

“They are killing us all, aren’t they? Reducing population to make more time for the rest of you.” This Clarke said loud enough for many to hear, some of the prisoners stopped in their place to try and listen in further, they were pulled away harshly by their guards.

 

“Clarke, you are not being executed. You’re being sent to the ground. All 99 of you.” did her mother sound jealous?

 

“What?” this might be the act of her lifetime. “But it’s not safe!” because you are all coming after us, she thinks. “No.” she said, determined to win an unknown argument. “No. We get reviewed at 18.”

 

“The rules have changed.” So this is how Thelonious had done it again. “This gives you a chance to live.” as opposed to here, on the Ark, where they were just about surviving. “Your instincts will tell you to take care of everybody else first” she noticed that too, this was what prevented her from being with the love of her life last time. “ - just like your father - but be careful. I can’t- I won’t lose you!” Her mother’s declaration felt like a goodbye, and for her it might as well have been. “I love you so much.” This Clarke never doubted.

 

She felt a slight prick to her shoulder, some kind of sedative, as her eyes closed, she heard her mother whisper in her ear.

 

“Earth, Clarke. You get to go to Earth.” She really wants to answer her. You too, mom, you too.

 

*** ***

 

She woke up just as they were locking down the drop ship, on her right side a hooded figure she recognized by her size as Octavia, on her left, Raven, and right before her, on the other side of the half circle they were seated in, sat Bellamy Blake, in full guard regalia. She scowled at him and he scowled right back. She than noticed Nathan sitting right above Bellamy, and he was winking at her, motioning to his unfastened seat belt and the gun and shock baton in his hand. Bellamy was already unarmed. That was a good start.

 

As soon as the drop ship detached from the main Ark and they were on course to Earth, Octavia lowered her hood, and Bellamy who was scowling at all the prisoners up until that point, was shocked to discover his little sister, sitting in the drop ship, scowling at him right back.

 

“Octavia?” he asked, more like a growl than an actual word.

 

“Bellamy” she said, hers was full with a bite her brother couldn’t really place.

 

“What are you doing here?” he asked, panic taking over his eyes.

 

“I was given a choice. Go down with the rest, or stay on the Ark and keep hiding. I made my choice, what’s it to you?”

 

“You are my little sister - my responsibility, you can’t just do things like that!” whispering began and spread like wildfire, there were no siblings on the Ark.

 

“O?” Clarke heard Wells’ voice coming from right behind her, Octavia obviously noticed as well, as she turned around in her seat and grinned at the dark skinned boy. “How are you doing, Wells?” his answering grin didn’t necessitate a response, now they were both aware of each other, while the other 90 or so teenagers were left with their own conclusions to make.

 

They all sat in silence for a few minutes, all 100 of them, some too shocked to speak, others in grief, believing their lives were over, and some, were calm for the first time in years. They were on their way home.

 

The click of a seat belt opening was almost deafening. They were close to reentry, to close to move around.

 

“Finn!” growled Raven, her voice angry in tone and her eyes boring into the teenager that dared open his seat belt.

 

“Raven!” he cheered right back, but mellowed when he watched her eyes narrow.

 

“Put the seat belt back on, Finn, unless you want to die.”

 

This time the warning came just in time, before others could follow the boy.

 

“C’mon, Ray, this is all good!” whined Finn and Raven wasn’t the only one scowling now.

 

“Get back to your seat!” growled Clarke, her voice so cold it made all the others shiver.

 

“Princess!” he exclaimed. It seemed that Clarke could never shake this nickname off.

 

“Collins.” Finn seemed surprised to find she knew his name. “Sit back down, or when we get to the ground, I will kill you myself. This goes for all of you.” she called out, making sure to look around at each and every teenager she could see.

 

“If we are going to survive this, we need to support each other, that means no endangering others by doing stupid stuff.” with these words, Clarke solidified her place as their leader.

 

*** ***

 

She stood at the balcony at the south side of the tower, looking towards the south city and the forests and ocean beyond. She missed her dearly, but the time wasn’t yet right, but she could feel it coming. The night sky twinkled with millions of stars and her heart beat slowed, beating sluggishly in her rib cage, so deep in thought she was that she barely registered the other person stepping next to her. Anya.

 

They had a difficult day, to say the least. Lexa had finally been able to bring the issue of the Conclave before the council, and they voted on it, it wasn’t even a close call, they were all too tired of losing children to the Conclave. The only one to vote against was Nia, but she was out voted. Lexa could now rest for a second. Upon her death, the children she took in as her own won’t have to kill each other for her throne, like she had to do with her own class of novitiates. She felt good, she felt relieved.

 

They watched on in silence, words not needed when there’s such a deep understanding between people, she used to have silences like this one with Clarke. The two of them just being around each other, doing their thing. She missed that.

 

They were still staring at the south when a few minutes later, a bright streak of fire flashed across the sky. Lexa smiled to herself. Time was indeed close.

 

“ _ em ste taim. _ ” she said, her voice soft, her lips still twitching from the smile she was barely holding in.

 

“ _ sha, heda. _ ” Anya turned to leave, knowing before hand what had to be done once the 100 landed in  _ trikru _ lands.

 

“ _ gonthru klir, fos. _ ” was trailing behind her as she left her Commander to stare at the smoke left by the fire in the sky.

 

*** ***

 

“I’ve got coffee!”

 

“Gimme!” hand was grabbing blindly over a shoulder, eyes still glued to the screen before her.

 

“What you need is a break.” murmured the one handing out the coffee.

 

She scuffed. “There’s no rest for the wicked, haven’t you heard?”

 

“You, my friend, are hardly ‘the wicked’ “

 

“Close enough, according to my mother.”

 

“She is still the one with the claim to the throne of the devil, she knows that, right?”

 

“She often gloats that she has the best nickname around.”

 

“You both need help.”

 

“Been there, done that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trig is back! sorta...
> 
> Em ste taim - it’s time.  
> Sha, heda. - Yes, Commander  
> Gonthru klir, fos - safe passage, First.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A couple of days early and unbetaed, but as promised, the next installment in our story.
> 
> Love you all, have a great weekend!

Their reentry to Earth’s atmosphere was marked by two things, one, a loud pop and a hiss, the drop ship was on fire. The second, was the screens lighting up and the dreaded face of their Chancellor taking up the space.

 

“Prisoners of the Ark, hear me now!” Clarke rolled her eyes at the man’s arrogance, many others noticed and questioned it in their mind. It was a known fact on the Ark that the Jahas and Griffins were close.

 

As they closed in on the ground, Thelonious went on and on, droning about their importance and in the same breath calling them all expendable. Many were rolling their eyes by the third sentence and the Awakened, as they called themselves, were all rather amused by the development.

 

“Your dad’s a dick Wells!” The comment was thrown by the same boy who said it last time around, but this time, Wells chuckled darkly and added to it.

 

“I know, but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have balls to go with it.” cheers and hoots spread around the dropship along with a few dropped chins and rather furiously red blushes by the younger members of the children crammed into the drop ship.

 

A violent shock shifted everyone's attention and created a panic that could have taken over everyone in the drop ship had Monty hadn’t taken the moment of quiet to cheer happily.

 

His sanity was questioned by Jasper who was sitting right next to him.

 

“Why the hell are you so happy, Green?” another prisoner, originally from Argo Station, just like Monty asked the boy.

 

“This means the parachutes deployed,” Monty didn’t let the narrowing eyes of the large boy bother him. They were on their way home, this was the last leg of their journey, their everlasting, never ending journey they were all so sure they would never make again for quite some time.

 

They landed with a bang, but not one of them was harmed on their way down.

 

As soon as they heard the noise made by their landing, Clarke, Octavia and Raven were all out of their seats and near the entrance ramp, Nathan, John, Harper and Monty not far behind. The stood as a barrier between the others and the outside, looking over the frightened teenagers and the angry, newly-minted guard that they were all familiar with.

 

“Listen up!” called Clarke, her voice deep with authority, she already slid into her rule of _wanheda_. This was Clarke, the leader, not Clarke, the curious young woman, whose life was saved by the drop. “We are on Earth, there’s no Chancellor here! There’s no guard.” She looks pointedly at Bellamy who scowled back, he reached for his gun, to take it out and make a point, but found he had none.

 

The smirk on Nathan’s lips was so wide it was almost a twisted sort of smile.

 

“Looking for this?” he taunted as he held Bellamy’s gun in his hand and the shock baton in the other,

 

“What have you done?!” growled Bellamy and made a move towards his sister and her friends.

 

Octavia was suddenly in front of him, stopping him from reaching Nathan and Clarke, who stood right next to him.

 

“What is this, O?”

 

“This, Bellamy, is us protecting ourselves.” said Octavia as she pushed her brother, not so gently, to the side.

 

“As I was about to say,” Clarke was set to return to the warning she was about to give. “There’s no higher authority here, which means we can do whatever we want!” The other teenagers began to cheer loudly enough to wake the nearby dead.

 

“But!” she called over the deafening noise, “this doesn’t mean we should.” the others quieted down for a bit. “We were left on our own devices by the adults that were supposed to take care of us, that’s true, but we were aware.” now the rest of the 100 were quiet as well.

 

“What I’m about to tell you is something very little people know!” She called out, her voice loud and sure.

 

“In the past couple of years, we have been watching the Earth, we weren’t dropped here by chance, this was a calculated risk we took.”

 

“Who’s we?” called Fox, Clarke smiled warmly at the girl they lost to the mountain in the last time.

 

“A small group of people, who chose to make sure we all survive.” said Octavia. People’s attention was drawn to her once again.

 

“You are an illegal child, aren’t you?” smirked Dax, and Octavia couldn’t help but roll her eyes, he said it as if it was a bad thing, it wasn’t her fault, and it simply exaggerated, in her opinion, the sham that was their government.

 

“I am.” she smirked back, “you’re the murderer, right?” Everyone looked at her in surprise, and Bellamy looked rather shocked to find that his little sister was more than aware of who Dax was. In fact, she didn’t look as if anyone that made the drop with them was even slightly unfamiliar.

 

“How did you make it to the drop ship?” he growled at his little sister, causing her, Clarke, Raven and Harper to roll their eyes once again.

 

“I had help.” is all she says and gives Clarke the center stage.

 

“As I was about to say, we won’t be going to Mt. Weather like we were instructed by Chancellor Jaha, we will be making the trip farther southeast, towards what once was Washington DC.”

 

There were many curious stares from all around them. They prepared to drop the - metaphorical (for now) - bomb.

 

“In the past couple of years, as we were watching the Earth we noticed similar patterns. Ones that point to the presence of life on this planet, and we aren’t just talking animals and vegetation here.” Clarke’s voice broke slightly as she spoke the next sentence, as it meant so much for her.

 

“There are people down here!” she calls, “There are survivors, just like us, on the Earth, we know that because there were clusters of light and fields that could only be man-made, we are not alone!” she than continued, despite the noise the 100 were making after the discovery, her voice even louder, stronger.

 

“We were dropped here because it’s close enough to a lights cluster that could be a settlement, but far enough away that if anything happened to us and we burnt during reentry, the settlement would not be harmed. Now, remember, we are not completely sure of how accepting they are of newcomers, so stay close, we need to face this together. But for now, we will be building walls around us, for protection, and we will be arming some of you, so we can go out and find some food and water in small groups, don’t go anywhere alone, we have no idea what is waiting for us out there!”

 

With that, Clarke motioned for Nathan and Monty with her head, and with no further words, they opened the drop ship's ramp door.

 

As the world outside revealed itself to the others, Clarke couldn’t help but stare at the teenagers around her, their eyes narrow to pin points by the bright light of the sun they have never seen before, their first breath of fresh air, they were here, they were home.

 

*** ***

 

She’s leading her warriors through the forests of her childhood into the unknown. Well, at least partially unknown. She knew what the newly arrived _skaikru_ were capable of, but if Lexa’s belief held true, they weren’t about to attack unprovoked.

 

Anya might have trained Lexa herself, and was often afforded privileges others could only ever dream of in _heda_ ’s presence, but if there is one thing all children of the 12 clans are taught since birth is, never question your Commander, at least, in Anya’s opinion, to her face.

 

Despite her worries, she was curious to see what could be accomplished between their people without the early declarations of war, but for now, it was their job to ensure the newly abandoned teenagers, as she was surprised to learn what the original 100 were, never try and make their way into Mt. Weather territory.

 

With Tris riding a little behind her to her left, on a brown mare almost too big for her to mount on her own yet, and one of her trusted captains, Raul, by her right, Anya was ready to face the new future, one, she hopes, would not end in her early demise once again.

 

They reach the _skaikru_ camp a little past noon on their second day on the ground. Before, in this stage, when they begun to watch over them, they were defenseless children, stumping through the woods loudly, making everyone around them aware of their presence, but that didn’t go unnoticed beforehand, as the streak of fire cutting through the sky is something not many have missed.

 

They met up with Indra, Lincoln and another small contingent of warriors they brought with them, little ways away from the newly minted Sky People. Anya grinned at her nephew, they might be the same age, but Anya never let the kind-hearted, sweet spirited man forget that she was in fact, his aunt. He grinned back and then motioned for her to join him a little ways away, they move perhaps a couple of dozen feet away from the others, but he feels it’s enough and motioned for her to come a little closer.

 

“ _ai don ai emo op fou las nat._ ” His grin is so wide it’s infectious.

 

“ _emo don dula bloka wo!_ ” Anya’s heart beats a little faster, could Lexa be right? Were there others like them, returned from their deathbed to the past?

 

*** ***

 

They came to the wall closer to sunset than Clarke would have liked, of that, Raven was sure. Regal horses and terrifying bone masks on, but if they were looking for a fight… well, Raven wasn’t about to give them one.

 

Motioning for Nathan to follow her discreetly, they were soon joined by Monty as well, she grinned at the two former (present?) lovers, her mischievousness setting them off uncomfortably.

 

“We have guests.” she says, her grin wide as it could get, her eyes bright with excitement, this was show time.

 

“Guests?” squeaked Monty, Nathan rolled his eyes good naturedly at his tone.

 

“Yeah, just in front of the gate…” They built the wall to last for some time, but not indefinitely, Clarke was adamant about that, and the others understood, she wanted the others to believe she knew nothing more than what she told them, and they had no reason to think the people on Earth were hostile, but at least the confirmation of human presence gave them legitimization to why build a fence in by itself, after all, if there were people, who’s to say there weren’t worse things out there?

 

“Where’s Clarke?” asks Nathan, Raven eagerly answers.

 

“She doesn’t know anything yet. I don’t want to get her hopes up too soon, we have no idea why they are here, for now, we haven’t hurt anything anywhere, as the landing didn’t cause a fire at all.”

 

That was true, they might have burned in reentry, but by the time the reached the first tree the dropship touched in their fall, they were no longer burning, and cool enough not to begin a fire in on it’s own.

 

“So… It’s just us?” asks Monty and Raven nods.

 

“Cool!” says Nathan, and the three of them make their way to the rather smallish gate on their own, informing John of the new development just as they reach it, making the mellowed down teen to roll his eyes and mutter something about hunting down Clarke and telling her what they were up to.

 

They opened the gate and Raven was faced by the most gorgeous face she had seen for a long time, she remembered this face, this woman, and the child seated on the horse right behind her. A smirk quickly passed through her lips, it won’t do to look too smug on their first meeting, or was it?

Raven and Anya stared at each other with contempt, it was already clear they both remembered the bitter past between the two of them.

Anya’s glare is almost harsh, but there’s a calmness Raven had only seen in few other faces before, the look of someone who already lost it all, and now had to live with the memory.

 

So Raven does what she does best with a situation she’s even slightly uncomfortable with, she makes a joke.

 

“We would wave a white flag for surrender, if we had anything white to spare. Hey Nate, do we have something white?”

 

“We have Clarke, Harper and John, do they count?” Raven laughs at his audacity.

 

“Dude, that's a good one, I mean, it’s bad, but a good one.” Raven and Nathan fist-bump, Monty rolls his eyes at their childishness.

 

Anya is amused. Or at least it looks like it.

“Well Cheekbones, I would totally wave Clarke around for something white, she's pale enough but I think that would be wasted on you... Is the Commander anywhere near here? We can totally call on her and do it then…”

 

The warriors surrounding Anya move around on their horses, uncomfortable with the dig Raven took on their Commander’s behalf. Anya, on the other hand, was smirking at Raven, her eyes twinkling in mischief. Indra who was riding a little behind Anya, unseen by the newly arrived teenagers, fought to not roll her eyes, she had almost forgotten how silly and foolish _wanheda_ ’s friends were.

 

From the far back of the group, another man was moving, his horse trotting to the front of the band of warriors, once he broke into the line of sight of the teenagers, all pretenses were almost dropped, as he was grinning at the three before him, having missed them almost as dearly as he missed his lover.

 

“I assure you, _reivon kom skaikru_ , that _heda_ has better things to do than watch over your surrender.” Anya’s voice is just as strong as Raven remembered, but the twinkle in her eyes, and the barely concealed smirk all contributed to Raven’s will to continue their banter. She was soon stopped though, when Clarke and John burst through the gate, albit quietly, as to not alert the rest of the camp, they were followed by a very excited Octavia, who, as soon as she saw her old lover, smiled so wide, Raven would later say she feared her friend might have become mad.

 

“Anya.” Clarke’s voice was just as raspy as Anya remembered it, and it brought with it the memory of her last few moments of life in the old world. But as she was about to become angry, she remembered that to be here, they must have all been dead, therefore, the child had her own demons to fight.

 

“ _klark kom skaikru._ ” her words were slow and stretched out, the vowels slipping from her mouth with just a hint of something that was a cross between venom and amusement.

 

“Come in,” motioned Clarke at the warrior party before her, she knew that it would scare the other teenagers, to see such a war based culture right off the bat, but should none get hurt, they might have a chance at peaceful negotiations, at least as long they can keep Bellamy away, or unconscious, Clarke couldn’t care less which approach would be taken.

 

Leading the _trikru_ warriors through the gates of their temporary camp, gaining the attention of the teenagers in the camp, Clarke felt a certain clench in her chest, she have learned to associate with missing Lexa and her guidance early in her days since waking up in this world.

 

The 100 watched on in wonder as the warriors entered the camp on horseback, but it was the _trikru_ warriors expressions she was watching, they were suspicious, and Clarke couldn’t wonder if they had overplayed their hand with Anya and her troops.

 

As they were settling in the middle of the camp, near the central fire, Anya caught Clarke’s hand and led her little ways away.

 

“ _heda sen ai au, em gaf tel yu op em mema yu in._ ” This was a test. Anya expected having to tell Clarke exactly what she said, she knew that Clarke knew some of the language of her people, but she never expected to be answered in kind.

 

“ _taim yu bakon gon polis?_ ” asks Clarke and Anya stares at her wide eyed. She was rarely surprised, but this time, she honestly was.

 

“ _taim yu na. heda sen ai gon shil yu op._ ” Anya didn’t expect the small smile and the roll of eyes she got from Clarke at her explanation.

 

“ _leksa gaf chil au in._ ” Anya chuckles at that.

 

“She does, doesn’t she?”

 

Clarke smirks. “What? The test is over?” Anya rolls her eyes and smiles at Clarke.

 

“Roan speaks highly of you.”

 

Clarke stops for a second, this was more than she expected. “You listen to what the Prince of Azgeda says?”

 

“He is my friend first, besides, he is _houmon kom reah, nomon kom leksa._ ”

 

Clarke looks surprised. “He is?” Anya nods.

 

“ _sha, ai sis bilaik houmon kom hainofa rowan._ ”

 

“Wait. You’re Lexa’s aunt?” Anya nods again and Clarke’s eyes widen at the revelation. “And Lexa’s mother?”

 

“In hiding. When _haiplana nia_ found out they were together, after _reah_ gave birth to a _natblida_ and it is widely known that _luna ste seingeda_ . She wanted _reah_ to birth her a _natblida_ heir.” Clarke nodded sagely, she knew about Nia’s wish to truly rule over all the clans.

 

“Let us join the rest.” said Anya. “I fear what might happen when the conversation is in _reivon_ ’s hands.”

 

Clarke laughs as they come closer to the others, making the teenagers all around camp look at her in surprise and the _trikru_ warriors to raise their eyes to their present leader, in question, what was going on?

 

*** ***

 

As Lexa was about to retire for the night, a missive reached the capital by the hands of a messenger from the _delfikru_ he was tired and dirty but a grin that could not be wiped, not even by his fear of the Commander, was clear on his face.

 

“ _heda, amin pol sen ai gon yu. disha kappa oso hon in, em ste wada klin, nou won ste kikraun, nou kalaka gon stedaunon, em ste wada klin!_ ” his words made Lexa stop breathing for a fraction of a second. An entire city, untouched by both the bombs and time, with no men inside. Was something wrong with it? Was there something dangerous there?

 

“ _ai gona, emo bilaik klir?_ ”

 

“ _sha. heda! Emo ste klir, disha kappa ste klir.”_

 

_“en disha kappa tagon?”_

 

_“em tagon bilaik gonasleng telon.”_

 

_“Chich op.”_

 

“Cambridge.” Lexa recognized the name from one of her many science books, the technology might have been lost to the people, but the commander was well informed about such matters, it was a city well known for it’s institutes of learning, Now Lexa was worried, why this city was preserved while the others were not?

 

“ _Mochof,”_ she says gruffly, “ _gon we_ ” she demands softly of the boy, almost a man, and he leaves quickly, glad his job was over and done with.

 

*** ***

 

As night closed in, many more of the teenagers in the camp joined the group near the fire, they were cautious, but curious, which surprised Anya. she was expecting a much more hostile reception, but it seemed that the newly minted grounded _skaikru_ , simply accepted them into camp and asked them all manners of questions, hoping to get every answer available to them.

 

Struck by the fact she may have seriously misjudged the Arkers in the old world, Anya takes care to answer whatever question she knew the answer to, maybe this time around, there would not be a need for war.

 

As Anya and the rest of her warriors immersed themselves in the conversation around the fire, Indra watching over everyone like a hawk and Lincoln and Octavia using the time to stare at each other blatantly, though no one noticed with all that was happening around them, Clarke and Wells stood to the side, watching over the recently freed teenagers truly connect to figures of authority since the day they were thrown into lockup.

 

“You know her.” it was a statement rather than a question, but Clarke nodded anyway, sneaking a quick look at Wells’ face.

 

“She died trying to help me.”

 

“It’s all about death on the ground, isn’t it?” sighed Wells but was surprised to see Clarke shake her head fervently.

 

“It’s all about life, Wells, but death is an inseparable part of life.”

 

“After I died, what happened?”

 

“It’s a really long story, Wells.”

 

“Just the cliff notes then.”

 

“We killed 300 of their warriors in self defense, Finn killed 18 innocent grounders, I killed Finn, we made peace with the grounders, we took down Mt Weather where people are using the grounders as a miracle bloodbag medicine, we were betrayed by the grounder commander, we made peace with them again, we killed 300 of their warriors - who were there to protect us this time - again and there was a coup in the grounder capital, the Commander won, but her advisor tried to kill me, she walked in and took a bullet meant for me, she died, I died, we all died, we all woke up on the Ark a couple of years ago.”

 

“Wow…”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“And now we are good with them? She knew who you were?”

 

“Yes, she had a message from the Commander herself, who apparently also remembers.”

 

“There’s something you aren’t telling me, Clarke.”

 

Clarke sighs and blushes as she murmurs what she had avoided telling her childhood best friend.

“I was kind of, but not really, but maybe…-”

 

“Clarke” Wells’ eyes watched over her as she blubbered, kind and warm, she sighed again.

 

“I was with the Commander.”

 

“As in…”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“The Commander’s a woman.”

 

“Yeah.”

 

Wells chuckles.

 

“What?” asks Clarke, staring at her friend as if he had gone mad.

 

“That is so you, to be all embarrassed about telling people about being gay, or dating someone - for that matter. It doesn’t matter!”

 

“Bi.”

 

“Bi. Is she hot?”

 

“Wells!”

 

“Well?”

 

“Yeah…” Clarke’s face were close to being scarlet in color.

 

*** ***

 

Clarke soon joined the people around the fire, letting Wells be alone with his thoughts, but he didn’t have long before another joined him. Charlotte.

 

“I’m sorry.” she whispers. She’s about to leave again when Wells catched her wrist in a grip not too loose as to let her leave, but not too tight as to not hurt the girl.

 

“My dad’s a real prick.” he tells her and she relaxes slightly.

 

“He is. He killed my parents for no reason!”

 

“I know. I revolted with the rest, that’s why I was in the SkyBox.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Yeah. like I said, a real prick.”

 

“It doesn’t excuse what I did to you, though.”

 

“True. that was a real mess you made, but here you are, and you aren’t holding a knife at me either.”

 

“I won’t, not again.”

 

They stand there in silence for a while.

 

“Do you still have nightmares?” asks Wells. Charlotte nods.

 

“Me too. I won’t mind the company…” He leaves Charlotte to think over his implied offer for a while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Might not be as correct as I would like...
> 
> ai don ai emo op fou las nat. - I have been watching them since last night.  
> emo don dula bloka wo! - They built a shield wall!
> 
> heda sen ai au, em gaf tel yu op em mema yu in. - The Commander sent me, she wanted me to tell you she remembers.  
> taim yu bakon gon polis? - When do you return to Polis?  
> taim yu na. heda sen ai gon shil yu op. - When you do. The Commander sent me to protect you.  
> leksa gaf chil au in - Lexa needs to relax.  
> houmon kom reah, nomon kom leksa. - (beloved) of Reah, Lexa’s mother.  
> sha, ai sis bilaik houmon kom hainofa rowan. - Yes, my sister is Prince Roan’s beloved.  
> haiplana nia - Queen Nia  
> Natblida - Nightblood  
> luna ste seingeda - Luna is family.
> 
> heda, amin pol sen ai gon yu. disha kappa oso hon in, em ste wada klin, nou won ste kikraun, nou kalaka gon stedaunon, em ste wada klin! - Commander, Master Paul sent me to you. The City we found, it’s washed clean, no living, no bones of the dead, it’s clean!  
> ai gona, emo bilaik klir? - My warriors, are they safe?  
> sha. heda! Emo ste klir, disha kappa ste klir. - Yes Commander! They are safe, they city is safe.  
> en disha kappa tagon? - What is the city’s name?  
> em tagon bilaik gonasleng telon. - The name is an English word.  
> Chich op. - Speak  
> Mochof, - Thank you.  
> gon we - Leave


	13. Chapter Thirteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you lot!  
> I know it's a pretty short chapter compared to what you're used to, but this week has been sooooo busy!  
> The good news though, is that I finished my personal project which I've been working on for the past three weeks...  
> A map.  
> Yes, a map. Of what? you ask, North America, post-apocalypse. Yep.  
> After re-watching the entire series twice, using google maps to the point it's on my favorites tabs list (despite my usual broader selection of fanfiction sources and YT) and working with an actual hardcover Atlas (who knew that a 2002 edition would actually be outdated?) I created an estimated map of clan locations, for all to use!  
> You can find it on my Twitter account, @Hunter_Memoir.

“What are you doing?!” The high pitched yell could be heard all over the small shop on the corner of the street.

 

She rolled her eyes. “This is a Starbucks, I'm pretty sure it's obvious what I'm doing.” She said and gestured towards the iced latte in her hand. 

 

“You have class!” Moaned the young man who questioned her in the first place. 

 

“Yeah, Ethics, in an hour. Seriously, man, keep up!”

 

“No, class started like 15 minutes ago!” He said, pointing wildly at his wristwatch. 

 

She started chuckling as she saw the time on his watch. She grabbed his left arm and shoved her’s towards him, watch faced upwards, despite the uncomfortable position. She then motioned with her head for the man to look. He sighed in defeat. 

 

“You gotta learn, E. Your sister is wrecking your nerves.”

 

“Not again!” He moaned as he began resetting the time on his watch. This wasn't the first time his sister set the time forward on his watch, knowing that in the morning it was the only time keeping object he used before classes. 

 

“Hey!” Called out a cheery voice at the two, they turned to the entrance of the shop, a young woman almost skipped their way. 

 

“Felicity!” Grinned the young man at one of his best friends, but his forehead was still sweaty from the trick his sister pulled on him. 

 

“Ethan!” She grinned right back, hugging him tightly as she reached the two. “Why are you so sweaty?” She asked as she pulled back. 

 

“Charlie pulled another prank on him!”

 

“Claudia!” He groaned as the two young women laughed at his misfortune. 

 

“You gotta learn, buddy.” Said Felicity and then turned to Claudia.

 

“I have what you asked for…” She told her in a tone that suggested she was offering more than just a favor to a friend. Claudia nodded and took the plastic bag Felicity handed her. 

 

The bag was small, probably used in jewelry stores, it was covered in delicate flower pattern and a small box was in it, either a ring or earrings could fit in it. 

 

Claudia opened the box, a shine of light hitting a smooth piece of metal glinted and the top of the box was shut quickly back. 

 

“Brilliant!” Grinned Claudia and Ethan rolled his eyes.

 

“Here she goes again, channeling her mother.”

 

“What's wrong with channeling my mother?” 

 

“That’s like asking what's wrong with channeling the devil!”

 

Claudia rolled her eyes and reached out to take Felicity’s hand in her own. 

 

“Let's go, Flick, before we’re late for class because of this idiot.”

 

“Hey!”

 

“Sorry E, sisters before misters.” Said Felicity and the two exited the shop, leaving a huffing Ethan behind. 

 

The two walked side by side in silence for a few minutes before Claudia broke it with a question. 

 

“How did it go?”

 

“I recoded the last few functions, but the filter should hold for now and drop on command. You just need to implement it in the general system.”

 

“Easier said than done. We need access to the mainframe again, it was a nightmare to get it last time.”

 

They were close to the campus by then, weaving their way between tired students on their way to class. 

 

“The sims were all good, we can wait for the rest of the code for now, we can't do anything without a move on their side anyway.”

 

“I know… I still wanted to be ready. I know everything is moving in the timeframe we expected, but it's still hard to just sit and wait for them to catch up.”

 

“You're hardly sitting on your arse and waiting, C. You are studying Medicine. You should care more about your studies right now. We've done everything in our power.”

 

“Is it enough though?”

 

“This was in the making for decades by now. We were waiting for someone to be willing to work it out, to have the knowledge and tech to understand. We are way ahead of what our parents ever had before.”

 

“It shouldn't have happened in the first place, Flick.”

 

“It wasn't your fault, we aren't at fault here. Claudia, we are doing our best to fix the mistakes of the past, we can only hope to succeed where our parents have failed.”

 

They both entered the Social Studies building and made their way to the Ethics classroom. While Claudia was a Medicine student, Felicity was a grad student in Computer Science with a sub-Major in AI development, which meant, Ethics was a required subject. 

 

Taking a seat on the front row, taking out their laptops, the two friends waited for the professor to begin his lecture. 

 

Ten minutes later the classroom filled and all the students were seated, signaling for the middle aged professor at the front it was time to begin. 

 

“Good morning class.” He started in a pleasant baritone. 

 

“As promised, this semester class would be all about the most controversial subject known to us in the past century.-”

 

“Here we go now…” Whispered Claudia to Felicity who hit her arm to quiet her. 

 

“Case file X 20-52.”

 

Felicity sighed deeply, this was going to be a long one. 

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, what can you tell me about it?”

 

*** ***

 

Clarke knew that dismantling everything that was built into the dropship in the past couple of years would be a difficult job, as it was all well hidden and meant to be found only by those who knew about it, but despite the prior knowledge, Clarke was tired and cranky and she was impatient. They were on the ground more than 72 hours by now, but they were still camped around the dropship, which was extremely dangerous, given that no one knew if there were any of the Awakened in the Mountain.

 

While the hard work itself was refreshing for her as she had been stuck in that little cell for weeks now, having to direct others into the caches in which they had hidden everything was a tough  mission in on itself. The other teenagers having a hard time believing that everything the Awakened listed was even on the dropship, given that resources were so sparse on the Ark.

 

Stripping the dropship during the day and sitting around the fire in the evening all done together, Arkers and Grounders, brought them all closer, some of the teenagers trying to learn the language of the natives much to Anya’s amusement. But it also meant that they hardly had any time to catch each other up on what was going on in each side. On the third day, it all changed, the teenagers were so wiped out by the hard physical labor and the warriors slept in their tents, knowing that the next day would be much harder for them if they would like to keep up the pace they have set in the past few days. They had some time to sit together, creating another - smaller - fire in the outskirts of camp, away from listening ears, but close enough to see all of the camp from where they were seated.

 

Clarke and Nathan were the first to seat down, they were then joined by Wells, Charlotte and Monty. Anya and Indra followed, each holding an animal skin filled with what Clarke was sure was anything but water. Octavia and Lincoln slipped over not long after, Octavia’s hair mussed and Lincoln’s leather armor tied looser than usual. Harper and Raven were next, dragging a reluctant John behind them. They sat around the fire for some long minutes, passing the skins around the older members of the group.

 

Wells unintentionally started the conversation as he took his first sip of what Anya fondly called the best  _ souda _ in all the Coalition.

His choked breath and hacking cough made the other, more experienced drinkers laugh at his misfortune while Anya murmured something about  _ skaikru _ being unable to hold their drinks.

 

Clarke slapped Wells’ back a couple of times, grinning at the boy as he turned his head and rested his chin on her shoulder, she rubbed his shoulder softly and gave him another skin, this time full of cool water.

 

“Yeah, I probably should have warned you, this kind of drink takes some getting used to.” jokes Clarke and Wells groans.

 

“Why do you even drink it? It’s awful!” he cried when he regained his breath.

 

“It doesn’t taste good, but it doesn't mean it does no good!” chortled Nathan  as he took a healthy swig from the alcoholic drink.

 

“Oh! Yuk!” Charlotte had gotten around to take a sip for herself, and like Wells, seemed to prefer avoiding another taste.

 

“Don’t spit it on me!” yelped Octavia as she was in the line of fire, Charlotte’s mouthful of  _ souda _ hitting her right in the face as she sat curled up to Lincoln, their fingers entwined.

 

“Yeah, kiddo. If you do, you may find yourself headless one day, Octavia can really bite one off when she’s angry.” said Raven as she took her own mouthful, she swallowed hers easily and took another swig before passing it on, back to Anya who had provided the drink in the first place.

 

Indra sat with them but her hawk-like eyes never left the boundaries of the camp for too long, she was still worried about the Mountain and she should have been, they were yet to be defeated in this life, and here they all were, sitting around the campfire, drinking.

 

They sat in silence a little while longer before it was broken by Clarke.

 

“We are leaving tomorrow, for Polis.”

 

“We are?” asks Charlotte and Clarke nods sagely at the girl.

 

“We all have our responsibilities, mine is to convince the Commander it is a good idea to give us a second chance, a first one really, in this world.”

 

“You think you can make the Commander agree to give us a little longer?” asked Charlotte, wonder coloring her eyes.

 

Raven and Octavia were the first ones to fall over with laughter, surprisingly, they were joined by Anya herself not long after.

 

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it, Clarke could probably kill her and she would still do whatever Clarke asked her to.” smirked Raven.

 

Clarke rolled her eyes and blushed. Monty smirked at his friend, knowing that’s as true as it can get.

 

“Clarke?” Wells was still a little choked up.

 

“Yeah?” she turned to her oldest friend, a pleasant smile playing on her lips.

 

“Are we going to be ok?” everyone froze, no one was expecting such an innocent question from one of them, never one of them, they all already suffered enough to know that people live their whole lives without ever it being OK.

 

“Yeah, Wells, it’s going to be OK.” no one believed a word she said.

 

*** ***

 

Morning came too quickly for Clarke who haven’t slept a wink that night. She sat there, near the dying fire, thinking about everything that had to be done, about everything that could go wrong.

 

The first one up was Anya. Getting ready to leave, the general packed away all of her possessions and made her way to the brooding teenager.

 

“ _ yu bilaik noseim. _ ” she said as she settled near the younger blonde, looking right at her, aiming to make her uncomfortable. She did not succeed, Clarke remembered her past life too well, she remembered being under greater scrutiny than Anya’s scorching whiskey colored eyes.

 

“ _ oso bilaik noseim, onya, stedaunon ste gon we, kikon ste enti. onya, oso bilaik stedaunon. hakom oso ste kamp raun hir? _ ”

 

Anya sighed in something that sounded suspiciously like defeat.

“ _ ai nou get in. klark kom skaikru, chil au. heda ste set raun gon yu. _ ”

 

A small smile spread over Clarke’s tired lips. The thought alone, of seeing Lexa, made her smile. She missed her lover very much, being apart from her in the past few years was harder than it should have been, by the time Lexa and Clarke died in their last life, they had only known each other a few months.

 

Their conversation was cut short by the rest of their two camps waking up and getting ready to pack up the camp to leave for Polis. Three hours after sunrise they were all on their way to Polis.

 

Clarke remembered the way from their old life, it took more than seven hours from the dropship to Mt. Weather, to TonDC it took maybe three, if you were slow. But to Polis, well, she was lucky she exercised regularly, others weren’t as lucky.

 

It took them more than a day. Close to two. They stopped at sundown and were on their way again by sunrise, but it still took many hours to get there. It was almost sundown again by the time they made it to the hills surrounding Polis. As they were walking over the last of the taller hills, gasps could be heard all around them, for the first time in their young lives, the 100 were seeing the undeniably awestrucking sight of the living city before them. Houses built from bricks and roofs made from wooden shingles, old world building fixed up after the bombing, their glittering glass windows painted orange by the setting sun, and the Commander’s Tower, so tall, regal in the middle of the city, the eternal flame on it’s roof burning brightly in the slightly darkened sky. People who looked like little dots in the distance, small torches burning around the city. This was what life was about. Living.

 

The sound of laughter startled all the newly arrived teenagers, they stared at their newly chosen leader, her smile bright and her eyes not as tired as they were before, she looked relieved, rejuvenated, she looked at home.

 

“Welcome to Polis, everyone, the capital of the known living world.” she said and moved forward towards the city, Anya close on her heels. The rest followed closely, to shocked and awed to say anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember to check out the map on my Twitter @Hunter_Memoir, hopefully I can get it up here in a couple of weeks (when I get back from vacationing with my parents), it's going to help keep up with the story line soon!
> 
> Trig
> 
> Souda - alcoholic drink  
> yu bilaik noseim - You are different.  
> oso bilaik noseim, onya, stedaunon ste gon we, kikon ste enti. onya, oso bilaik stedaunon. hakom oso ste kamp raun hir? - We are different, Anya, the dead are gone, the living are hungry, Anya, we are the dead. Why are we here?  
> ai nou get in. klark kom skaikru, chil au. heda ste set raun gon yu - I don’t know. Clarke of the Sky People, relax. The Commander is waiting for you.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this lives up to everything you hoped for!  
> Have a great weekend!

Walking up to the hidden walls of Polis made John slightly uncomfortable, last time he was here, it wasn’t any fun for him. Not at all.

His nervousness was noticed by Clarke who he was walking the closest to, she turned towards him, sneaking a comforting smile his way, he didn’t see pity in her eyes, but understanding, despite it being the home of her beloved, she had many unpleasant memories from this place, one of them being the death of her beloved, in her arms.

 

John didn’t know what were the chances that like Clarke he would get to see his own girlfriend, or if she even remembered anything at all. He could hope, but it just wasn’t his style.

 

Adjusting his heavy pack on his shoulder, he continued on bravely, matching Clarke’s steps one to one, the steady beat calming him slightly, music had this effect on him, and when there was no music, the constant beat of just about anything, was helpful as well.

 

The walls, which none of the other teenagers recognized as such, as they were covered by vegetation and the gates themselves were open and hidden so well within the growth that one could mistaken the city to an unprotected stronghold. But John knew better, last time around, he and Clarke had to sneak past the closed gates and out to the forests around the city, while the majority of the city’s guards were hot on their heels. No, Polis was not a place John remembered fondly,

 

*** ***

 

Octavia stared ahead, the lively city revealing herself right before her eyes, she was here only a couple of times in her last life, both extremely rushed and she never really took the time to take in the life that radiated from it.

 

For someone who was stuck under the floor inside of a space station all her life, this was more than just different, or even grand. No, this was a sign, a sign that she could now have the life she had missed on the Ark, and was cheated out of last time around, when Pike killed her lover right before her eyes.

 

This was a new beginning, this was her chance at a future, and she swore to herself, she would not let it go to waste.

 

Looking up to her right, Octavia smiled at Lincoln, taking his hand in hers, squeezing it lightly and let it go. It won’t do for a warrior to enter the city after an important mission holding someone’s hand, and Octavia knew this well, after all, in her past life, she would have been right there as well, riding in on her brown steed, hair braided and windswept, her smirk well in place, a wicked blade strapped to her back.

 

She was home, and this was her chance to shine once again.

 

*** ***

 

Harper’s eyes were running all over, she was taking it all in for the first time.

 

She might have knowledge about this world, more so than most teenagers among the 100 sent to the ground, but she never had the chance to see Polis, so this was a first for her as well.

 

Looking up she stared at the top of Polis’ highest tower, the Commander’s Tower, situated right in the middle of the bustling city. Harper was awed, she never realized how much was actually preserved of the original structure of the grand building, the others told stories, of course, but they didn’t do the great tower any favor.

 

The next thought hit her fast and caused her to laugh out loud, luckily for her, she was walking at the head of the procession with the rest of the Awakened.

 

“What is so amusing?” drawled Anya and Harper continued to giggle while answering her question.

 

“Clarke’s nickname, Princess.” more giggling, this time more of the Arker Awakened joined in, understanding the joke that was unintentionally made. They all laughed, all but Clarke.

 

When Anya asked again why, Harper, still giggling, told her.

 

“There’s an old Earth legend that is about the Princess in the tower.” Anya grins widely as well.

 

*** ***

 

Charlotte was in shock.

 

The grounders were supposed to be savages, who couldn’t speak English and struck you down from the shadows, from the tops of trees, you never saw them coming. They weren’t supposed to be this group of rather funny, exciting, pleasant and intelligent people who were more than willing to help them learn the lay of the land.

 

She realized by now that they had a very bad landing, last time around, in more ways than one, They burnt down a portion of the forest when they first arrived and with it, almost an entire village.

 

This time, the only thing that was burnt was Clarke’s fuse when Bellamy started talking, Charlotte could sympathize.

 

Charlotte looked ahead, people were walking the streets, despite the coming sunset, there were merchants all around them, people selling their wares, from knives to furs and leather armor, from paintings to paint and toys, books, they were also selling books. Old, new, some she was sure were so old they were from before the war, others, she realized, were written and distributed much later, apparently, grounders can read… She really shouldn’t be surprised, after all, they are standing right next to a huge sign that says ‘NO WEAPONS BEYOND THIS POINT’.

 

*** ***

 

Wells was trying to take it all in at once, looking every which way, smelling, feeling. This place was alive, and the people in it, living, not just surviving, not placeholders for future generations, they were living their lives.

 

He was grinning, he was sure of that, for the first time in his life, his face was hurting from smiling, his teeth bright white against the background of his dark face, his brown eyes shining with joy, and his heart beating quickly in his chest, this kind of happiness, Wells never thought he would get to experience, he was alive, the other 100 teenagers he landed with were alive, the grounders much friendlier than before, his best friend was still his best friends and all around him there’s life.

 

It was so different than the Ark, there were no restrictions on how fast he could walk, how much he could eat each meal, what he could do and what he could learn, there is no restriction on how much children a family could have.

 

People who were living their lives, that had something real to lose, last time around, he still believed the world needed them, the Arkers, to continue the human race, this time around, he knew for sure, there was a chance the world was so much better off without them. He could only hope his father never makes it to the ground alive.

 

*** ***

 

The mischievous glint in Monty’s eyes was a dangerous indicator for trouble, of that Nathan was sure, he never been to Polis, but right now, his boyfriend’s reaction to the newly revealed city was much more interesting than seeing, for the first time, the life that survived on the ground, not the wars, the blood and the anger, the life, the love, the laughter.

 

Monty laughed in joy when a ball was kicked in his direction, stopping right in front of him. He stopped and picked it up, weighting the object in his hand, he looked around for the culprit, a group of young children, no older than 10 years of age stood there, not too far away, staring in fear at the strange new group of people who were dressed differently, and had a different look about them, an innocence that no grounder ever had after their first few years of life.

 

Looking at them he grinned, and they were on edge, up until Monty pitifully tried to throw the ball their way, and it fell short, halfway there short. The laughed, at first it was a nervous giggle, but when they saw he wasn’t doing anything threatening, he wasn’t even moving closer to them, their laughter grew in sound, to the point where a couple of the kids stumbled as they held their stomachs, aching from laughter.

 

Nathan smiled, he had never seen Monty like this. This was their chance to fix things, no doubt, but maybe, just maybe, it was their time to heal and fix themselves up as well.

 

*** ***

 

She had been here once before, well, not herself, but someone who was connected to ALIE’s City of Life was. She had a vague impression of the city before, but right now, she was sure whoever been here before, were either blind, or simply too dumb to actually look around him, or maybe, by the time he got here, there was too much death and destruction that no one was willing to walk around Polis without an actual need to do so.

 

This, this was something else.

The people walking and talking amongst themselves, children running and playing, shouting in joy, Merchants calling out loudly for people to come and check out their wares. Women and Men alike, dressed in light leather armor stood around and on the walls, some with blades, others with bows and arrows, but instead of the bloodlust she was used to see in warriors on the ground, she saw they were more relaxed, the ones closer to the thriving streets grinning as children came and played near them, some even talking to the children and demonstrating a couple of simple moves.

 

It was a thriving community, the noise of life providing a stunning effect of white noise she just wasn’t used to.

 

Don’t get her wrong, Raven was more than fine with the absence of white noise of laughter and the lives of so many people, it wasn’t present on the Ark, not then and not now, and last time around, not even Arkadia had this kind of livelihood. Raven didn’t become a Zero G Mechanic just to lose it because of the hours of silence one would have to endure during a survey of the space station, she actually kind of liked it, it was very peaceful, but this, this was better than anything she ever heard before.

 

*** ***

 

Clarke knew she should be more aware of her surroundings right now. Or at least seem like she didn’t know where she was going, but the thought of seeing Lexa again had taken over her mind, and she could think of nothing else, luckily for her, Anya caught up on that fact and caught her arm just in time, before she begun to make her way to the Tower on her own.

 

“ _ hod op, skaigada, yu laik nou kom hir, yu nou ste get polis in. _ ”

 

Clarke sighed in defeat and let Lexa’s former First to take back the lead, only walking far enough behind her that it won’t seem she’s walking on her own accord with the familiarity of only someone who actually spent time getting to know the city would have.

 

Looking to her left, only just inside the city’s walls, Clarke saw the stand Lexa clued her in about in their last life, the one that held the soft coloring sticks that spread around the parchment better than any of the others she had tried, the one that held a better grade parchment, canvas and even grain paper, which was in a surprisingly close quality of paper from before the bombing.

 

Clarke remembered that at first, she thought Lexa had someone looking for this kind of things for her, to butter her up after what she had done at the Mountain, but later she found out that every single map she saw on Lexa’s war table was hand painted by her, and that Lexa was just as a talented an artist as she was, and like her, circumstances never allowed her to make it her main occupation. She found out that this was the merchant Lexa herself used for her own supplies and it made it even more special, Lexa sharing about her life more than others ever knew about. The small things, where she got this and that, her scars and when she got them, her tattoos and their meanings, who designed them - Lexa did, all by herself - and who did them - Lincoln, Clarke was surprised to find out - in general, time spent with Lexa was different for her than anyone else’s she got to see Lexa beneath the mask she wore since she was brought to Polis in her early childhood.

 

*** ***

 

Leading a large group of  _ skaigoufa _ to the Commander’s Tower wasn’t something Anya ever thought she would do, but as the sun was just about to disappear completely, Anya led the huge group to the main entrance of the tower. The guards were aware that the tower was about to house the 100 teenagers, and were waiting for them, an entire floor in the huge tower, was prepared for their sake.

 

As they reached the main hall of the Tower’s entrance, Anya led the larger part of the group towards an entire contingent of guards who were standing near the main staircase, waiting to lead the teenagers to their new, if temporary home. A quick explanation for the teenagers’ sake, and they were off, the rest following Anya and Indra to the lift, the rest of the warriors who’ve escorted them to Polis already left, taking the horses and packs with them, some to be returned to their own homes, and some to help out the teens and were to be sent back to them as soon as they were settled in their new home.

 

Clarke and John stared at the lift before them, the last time the two of them used it, it was all too close to their own death. Getting over whatever fear may linger in their bones, the two followed the Trikru generals into the lift, an excited Raven and Monty, and Amused Nathan and Harper and an annoyed Octavia, whose boyfriend left her side for the first time in almost a week.

 

The tension in the lift could be cut with a butter knife, crackling with nervous energy, Clarke was fidgeting to the point she made the lift shift a little every time she made a move too quickly. While her friends had no intention of telling her to stop, Indra looked at her, rolling her eyes from time to time, and Anya, easily annoyed Anya, had enough, as they were about halfway up to the Throne Room, she opened her arms and caged Clarke in a tight embrace, not letting the teenager move a muscle, not a word was exchanged, but Clarke got the memo. No more fidgeting in the lift. She stopped and Anya let her go, the rest of the ride up was uneventful.

 

*** ***

 

Her body was so tense Lexa was sure that at the end of the day, she won’t be able to move her head from one side to the other without some seriously strong pulling and rubbing of her shoulder muscles. Massages aside, she knew she was in for a lot of trouble.

 

She sent Anya, despite her greatest wish to be the one to greet the newly arrived  _ skaikru _ . She knew there could be no other way, the ambassadors would never stand for that. And for now, she had to do her best to please them, what she was planning to do, sooner rather than later, would be a great deal easier if the ambassadors would refrain from having her assassinated every other day.

 

She had dreamt of this day for the past three years, despite being well aware it may end in sorrow for her, should Clarke not recognize her, what would she do? Lexa never let herself think about this day, despite all her dreams and wishes, plans she made and had anything to do with Clarke always seemed to turn on their heads when time to put them in action came, so she refrained from making any more plans that took Clarke and her people into consideration, she would have time to do it later, when she had Clarke’s invaluable help deciphering  _ skaikru _ expressions.

 

She could hear the lift moving and rattling in its shaft, she could hear Titus muttering to himself to her right, and she could hear the rattle of her guards’ armor all the way from the entrance to the Throne Room, everyone were so quiet as if sensing the change that was about to come.

 

The lift stopped rattling, the shrieks of oiled metal on metal hurt her ears and the soft thuds of steps alerted Lexa that the meeting she was anticipating for so long was about to happen.

 

The grand wood-carved double-doors opened on both sides simultaneously, allowing the small contingent of people inside.

Anya and Indra were the first to enter, Lexa straightened in her seat and stared beyond her two most trusted general, and there they were,  _ skaikru _ .

 

She saw faces she recognized and others that she didn’t but they all had this deep expression of awe on their face, which made her want to chuckle, and later, when she had a minute to think this through, made her heart ache, this looks were the result of their life on the Ark, where the amount of people was always controlled and space was a luxury, as Clarke used to tell her.

 

She recognized Octavia, the little warrior that proved her loyalty time after time, despite being rejected many times before, she recognized the brunette, Raven, the one she accused of trying to poison her and tied her to a tree, she saw one of the last faces she had seen in her last life, the prisoner boy she heard Clarke bark orders at when she tried to save her life from the bullet that penetrated her torso. There were others, a young child that had tears sliding down her cheeks for some strange reason, she couldn’t be much older than Aden, and here she was, part of what Lexa knew was an experiment, to see if the ground was sustainable. Another was a dark skinned boy she had only seen sketched in charcoal before, another two boys, one with floppy hair hanging into his face and a large awed grin, he was holding the hand of the other boy, his skin as dark as Lincoln’s, but he was much shorter, his limbs almost as gangly as his friend’s. The other one she didn’t recognize was a honey blonde with freckles covering the bridge of her nose, she was looking around, curious about the world around her, she looked up and down, she stared at the guards and Anya and Indra.

 

Then, walking behind them all was the girl with the hair spun from gold and sunshine, her eyes a certain shade of dark blue Lexa had only seen a select number of times, her face slightly lined, as if the weight of the world was on her shoulders, this wasn’t the Clarke she met that time in her war tent, just outside of TonDC, oh no, this was the Clarke she left in Polis, when the bullet Titus had intended for Clarke took her life.

 

This was her Clarke.

 

“ _ heda _ ” Anya bowed before her, and she fought to roll her eyes at the gesture, she saw a small smirk playing on her lips as she rose. Indra repeated the gesture and soon the newly arrived  _ skaikru _ followed, bowing tensely, obviously new to the gesture, Titus who was standing to her right seemed pleased for now. Good, she really didn’t want to deal with an annoyed Titus right now, not when she was finally so close.

 

“ _ Mounin hou, stratrona onya kom trikru, stratrona indra. _ ” her tone was as calm as it ever was, but her eyes kept watching Clarke, waiting for even the smallest of signs, more than just the look in her eyes, that this was her Clarke.

 

“ _ heda, yu sen ai op gon hon veida in, ai dula ai dula en hon emo in. _ ” Anya’s voice was strong and her eyes never left her Commander, a perfect act, satisfying their need to seem genuine in front of Titus and the guards.

 

“den  _ weron ste ostof? _ ” Lexa asked, after all the official information they had had counted 101  _ skaikru _ running around.

 

“ _ hir, emo wogeda in. _ ”

 

“ _ os, en disha… gona? _ ” Anya chuckles while Indra is trying so hard to stop from doing the same.

 

“ _ nou gona, heda. goufa. _ ” Lexa raises her chin and smirks down at the room, her eyes showing this mischievous spark not many got to see.

 

“ _ ai laik heda leksa kom trikru, heda kom kongeda-de. chon yu bilaik? _ ” Lexa turns to the group of  _ skaikru _ in front of her. Clarke has a hard time not to smile.

 

“ _ heda. _ ” Indra speak with reverence she only reserved for Lexa herself. “ _ emo nou chich trigedasleng op. _ ” Lexa’s smirk is back well in place. Indra pushed Clarke forward a little, as if to signal to her Commander that she was their leader, or at the very least, the one chosen to speak for them. Not that Lexa needed that.

 

“You are the one who fell from the sky.” Clarke almost cried, as she stepped forward, she never told the others about the exact words she and Lexa spoke to each other, but here was Lexa, speaking words that were too close to what was said then to be a coincidence.

 

“You are the one that rules the ground.” There was a smile in Lexa’s eyes, of that Clarke was sure. Lexa’s smirk solidified and grew.

 

“ _ taitos, gona, gon we! _ ” with a scowl from Titus and a few worried looks from her personal guards the room was cleared in seconds from it’s issuing and the Awakened were left alone in the Throne Room, their leaders staring into each others eyes, fighting a smile up until the moment the doors closed behind the last of Lexa’s guard, when Lexa rose from her throne and Clarke ran so quickly she was nothing but a blur, seconds later, they were in each others arms, their lips attached, no care in the world as the others stood by and watched, eyes wide and jaws dropped, as the two lovers met again, after years apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigedasleng... I think some of my sentence constructing needs some work...
> 
> hod op, skaigada, yu laik nou kom hir, yu nou ste get polis in. - Wait, Sky Girl, you are not from here, you don’t know Polis.  
> Skaigoufa - Sky Children  
> Mounin hou, stratrona onya kom trikru, stratrona indra. - Welcome home, general Anya of the Woods Clan, general Indra.  
> heda, yu sen ai op gon hon veida in, ai dula ai dula en hon emo in. - Commander you sent me to find the invaders, I did my job and found them.  
> den weron ste ostof? - Then where are the rest?  
> hir, emo wogeda in. - Here, in their rooms.  
> os, en disha… gona? - Good, and these… Warriors?  
> nou gona, heda. Goufa. - Not warriors, Commander. Children.  
> ai laik heda leksa kom trikru, heda kom kongeda-de. chon yu bilaik? - I am the Commander, Lexa of the Woods Clan. Commander of the Coalition. Who are you?  
> emo nou chich trigedasleng op. - They don’t speak Trigedasleng.  
> taitos, gona, gon we! - Titus, Warriors (guards), leave us!


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> You won't believe how hard this one was for me to write, emotions and such a short time!  
> By the way, next week's chapter might be a little late...  
> enjoy!

After a few seconds of the two women kissing and ignoring the rest of the people in the room, they realized that the two weren’t planning on separating anytime soon, Octavia and Raven chose to take things in their hands.

 

“Princess!” came the hissed whisper from Raven, her hand over her mouth and a grin hiding in the corners of her eyes.

 

“Clarke!” admonished Octavia who was working extra hard not to laugh.

 

“Princess!” Raven again, “We said talk smooth, not smooch!”

 

Anya looked at Raven with a raised eyebrow, and on her side, the Latina rolled her eyes and explained what she meant.

 

“We weren’t sure… Better safe than sorry, right?”

 

“ _ leksa, em pleni! ai ai ste laksen! _ ” complained Anya, it seemed as if the two kissing ladies were ignoring them, either that or the more dangerous alternative of the two truly being unaware of their surroundings in the heat of the moment. Everyone in the room had no doubt that the former option was what actually was going on, the two leaders were a little too anal about control to let it go, even if they were in each other’s arms and surrounded by their most trusted people.

 

They separated and the poor souls who had to watch on as they embraced were spared. Lexa looked at her former First, her eyebrow raised just like Anya’s was a few seconds before, her face schooling itself from it’s love stricken appearance into a cool deadpan so quickly that it almost had Raven howling with laughter.

 

“ _ onya, yu na gaf in ai konge ona fisa? _ ” even if not all the people in the room understood Trigedasleng, the sarcasm was dripping from every word Lexa ottered. This time Raven did laugh, so hard that she stumbled into Octavia who was also struggling with a bad case of the chuckles. It seemed that the knowledge there was someone else out there, who knows, and has a similar goal to theirs was their sign to let go, the giddiness rising in their chests and for the first time in years, the leaders of the sky and the ground laughed loud and proud, their chests light with joy and their worlds just a little less dark.

 

A few minutes later, their uphoria settled and the lot calmed down enough to have an actual conversation.

 

“ _ klark, yu lokut, ai nou get emo in. _ ” Lexa sat back down in her throne while Clarke settled on the daise to her left, where she had spent a rather impressive amount of time last time around. Charlotte and Wells looked rather startled when Clarke not only seemed to understand what was said without any difficulty, but that she could also answer in the same strange and new language they heard the warriors that came for them speak amongst themselves and try to teach the 100.

 

“ _ sha, moba leksa, emo don stedaunon las taim. _ ” Clarke was so used to the fact they all died to get where they are now, talking about it and explaining it time after time that the words tumbled out of her mouth with little to no emotion coloring her tone, this was irregular for her, the one who suffered for months from the death of her enemies, and Lexa knew her lover well enough to know the difference, she turned to face Clarke while remaining seated, her upper torso stretching and her right arm muscles bulging slightly to hold the position, while Lexa looked her over Clarke was a little busy staring at the bulging muscles, luckily for her, she stopped herself as soon as her thoughts caught up with her actions, before anyone noticed.

 

“ _ klark? yu laik ogud? _ ” Lexa’s caring tone did not go unnoticed by the others, not even those who had no prior knowledge of the spoken language itself.

 

“ _ sha, niron, en ste os. _ ” Clarke pacified. Octavia grinned at the two while Anya raised her brow and Indra was as close to rolling her eyes as she ever was. John, on the other hand, did roll his eyes, but his lips curled into an indulging and somewhat longing smile.

 

“Well,” Lexa was back in an all business mode, Clarke stood a little taller behind her, as she used to do in the old world, where she always had to prove her worth in front of the other twelve clans. “We have much to discuss, most of our efforts in our last life are lost, there are some things that must be done before the rest of your people come down.” She was speaking English for the benefit of those she knew never learned the language of the ground, but before she made a move to continue this line of thought any further, she introduced herself to the newcomers, those who’ve never actually met her face to face.

 

“I am _heda_ _leksa kom trikru_ , Commander of the Coalition and it’s twelve clans.-”

 

“Thirteen.” cut her Clarke, a small smile playing on the edge of her lips, her eyes laughing at the light bristling of her lover at being interrupted, Anya looked appalled, Indra was already used to it.

 

“Not yet.” stressed Lexa and Clarke just grinned at the back of her head.

 

“But we will be?” Now she was just bugging her, Lexa was sure of it.

 

“Not if you continue as you are now.  _ ai nou laik tich, ai nou dula kom goufa! _ ”

 

“ _ en yu natblida? _ ” chuckles Clarke and Lexa groans, as Anya looks at Clarke a little differently. It was obvious that Clarke’s connection to Lexa ran a little deeper than merely lovers, she obviously knew more than simply a woman that used to warm the Commander’s bed, not even Costia had the permission, or even the nerve to tease Lexa as Clarke does, as Anya used to do before her Ascension.

 

“ _ Klark. _ ” Lexa was almost gritting her teeth together, despite the fact her eyes were lit with amusement at Clarke’s attempts of lightning the mode, really, Clarke’s success. “ _ yu lokut. _ ”

 

“ _ sha _ -yes... Lexa, these are Wells and Charlotte, they died before we had any real contact with  _ trikru _ apart from the guerilla war we had going on… Guys, this is Lexa, she may look cute, but the expression ‘her bark is worse than her bite’ does not apply to her.” even Octavia’s eyes go round and wide at this, this was already pushing everything that was said before, Clarke was close to humiliating the Commander, but to their surprise, Clarke knew very well were Lexa’s mode was at. When an unfamiliar giggle broke the tense silence in the room, all they could do was stare, Lexa was squirming in her throne, her hand to her lips, her eyes tearing with effort, not to let another sound escape past her lips.

 

Lexa was giddy, Clarke was giddy, and this may be their last opportunity to be themselves for a very long time, Lexa let go, and laughed out loud, the smile spreading on Clarke’s lips was nothing short of blinding.

 

Still somewhat giggling, Lexa straightened in her seat and smirked lightly at the teenagers before her.

 

“We’ve met before,” she nods to Octavia, who quickly drops to her knees, john who looks rather surprised Lexa even remembers seeing him, and Raven, who scowls at the thought of their last meeting and mutters something about being glad Lexa was about to get some on the regular, because she had no intention of acquiring the albeit pretty awesome scars on her biceps. “But I’ve never met the rest of you.” she nodded to Harper, Monty and Nathan.

 

“We were trapped in the mountain.” said Monty softly, he held no ill will towards the Commander, he, like Clarke, learned the hard way that there were some things in life, some actions, that were beyond your control, and there’s no need to dwell in the past, not when the future held so much in its grasp, both hope and danger, pain and joy.

 

Lexa nods solemnly. “I was very pleased to hear you made it out alive.” she tells them, and the sincerity could be heard in the undertones of her voice.

 

“So were we.” joked Nathan and Lexa cracked a smile from the side of her mouth, Nathan’s own grin widened just a bit.

 

“Yeah, while I love it we are all getting along this time around, singing kumbaya around the campfire and all that crap, but we still have a lot of important catching up to do!” John Murphy tried to sound sarcastic, but Clarke was on him like a raccoon on a garbage can.

 

“He’s just sad we didn’t find his girlfriend too.” said Clarke and the rest simply stared at her, she was really upping it with the childish act today.

 

“None the less, we do still have much to talk about. First, let us all seat, you may take a seat at the ambassadors’ chairs for the time being.” she gestured around the room, for the rest to take a seat. They did and she continued.

 

“The rest of  _ skaikru _ , when do you believe they would be getting down here?” she asked, and Clarke could understand the reluctance in her eyes when she spoke about the rest of the Arkers, Lexa never really had a good encounter with any of them apart from Clarke herself, and even their relationship was bittersweet.

 

“They’ll be here sooner.” says Clarke from her seat, to Lexa’s left, the  _ trikru _ in the room stare at her in shock, they did not expect such a forward and sure answer. “Much have changed in our timeline, for starters, my father is still alive, and he remembers, so we had an advantage and adult supervision when we needed it. Sinclair is aware as well, my godmother, Callie, she was on the council as well, last time, as well as this one, Marcus, is aware as well, he, Sinclair and my father worked hard to fix up the dropship to the state it was when we were dropped this time around, noticed no village burned and the forest is almost untouched?” grinned Clarke. Indra, for the first time in days, looked calm and if Clarke figured her micro-expressions correctly, happy, Indra was happy to hear her old friend was on his way down as well.

Lexa smiled as well, apart from Clarke, Marcus was her favorite  _ skaion _ .

 

“All in all, Commander,” it was Raven who continued, it was obvious she had become somewhat of Clarke’s second in command, “We did anything we were able to, to make sure everything went more… smoothly, than it did the last time around.”

 

Lexa nodded. But was still wondering about a few more details that she could not understand on her own.

“How did you convince your people not to attack when Anya and her forces came for you? And why is  _ belomi _ with you, does he know as well?” The last part of her question was undeniably and understandably angry in tone.

 

“We told them parts of the truth.” began Clarke and Raven nodded along her old friend, about to continue for her, but Clarke explained on her own. “When we were boarded on the Dropship, we were all awake this time, and as soon as we were launched we made a move to take control.” Raven cleared her throat loudly here and Clarke sighed and let her speak.

 

“Clarke means that this was where  **she** took control and made people listen, and when they doubted her, she told them we were part of a group that suspected there were people alive on Earth and that we should try and make peace with you, see if you can help us adapt to the ground. This time around, they all knew to expect people, and they were all geared into trying and make peace with you.”

 

“And  _ belomi? _ ” pressed Lexa, her lips tight together, and her brow furrowed.

 

“Knows nothing.” said Clarke “He was forced to join the drop by Jaha, who’s still Chancellor, by the way, he’s still a guard in this life, and expendable one at that, they made him join us to keep us in line, should, on the off chance, we survived the drop.”

 

“He is his old charming murderous self though.” said Octavia, her voice dripping with venom.

 

Wells though, was caught on a part of the conversation that made no sense to him.

 

“Excuse me, Commander, but, you knew my father?” Wells’ face contorted into a curious expression and his eyes widened while waiting for the terrifying woman to grant him an answer. Despite the fact he had just seen her laugh, he never met her before, and the image she portrayed, the black paint dripping on her cheeks and the golden gear on her forehead, the tight braids and impressive coat and shoulder guard, they all impressed a very certain image and it stuck.

 

Lexa looked confused, but then she looked at Wells a little closer, realizing who she was staring at. The boy Clarke was so tormented by last time around, the one she fought with about something he had never done, while he was protecting her innocence and died before they could truly make peace with each other.

 

“Yes.” she answered in a tone so soft it worried the people gathered in the room. “I knew your father,  _ wels kom skaikru _ , but I do not have much pleasant to speak of him, I’m afraid.” Clarke realized why Lexa was speaking to Wells without the harsh tone she always addressed everyone but Clarke with. She was recognizing him from Clarke’s tales and regrets.

 

“It’s okay, I don’t have much good to say about him either.” Wells grinned boyishly at the Commander, something that seemed to endear him to Lexa on his own right. The boy was so obviously good and kind-hearted, Lexa could do nothing more than be glad to have met him this time around.

 

“Very well.” nodded Lexa, this was better than she hoped, Clarke had reliable allies on the Ark, ones with power to change something. “You will be pleased to hear we are not the only ones to remember our past lives here on the ground.”

 

“We know, Lexa, Lincoln traveled with us here.” said Clarke and Octavia grinned happily at the thought of her boyfriend being alive and well.

 

“ _ sha. _ There are others.” Lexa says and Anya nods along. Indra stares at the teenagers unblinking.

 

“ _ rowan, karis, luna en naikou, emo don mema in seintaim. _ ” Clarke’s forehead creased as she thought over what Lexa had just said.

 

It’s not that Clarke wasn’t happy to find out her old friends had made it back as well, it was that they all made it back with their memories intact. Clarke knew the statistics.

 

“ _ leksa, taim osir kru mema in, don osir baga mema in seintaim? _ ”

 

Lexa’s eyes sought Clarke’s, she nodded to convey she understood her worry, but she knew nothing more.

 

“ _ ai nou get em in, klark, hofli noumou mema in. _ ”

 

“Hey! Cheekbones!” hissed Raven to her right, her elbow ramming into a very surprised Anya, no one had the guts to try and land one on her, unaware for many years now, they were all too afraid she would cut them where they stood, so when the weak and untrained girl jammed her elbow in her ribs she jumped and nearly attacked the poor soul that didn’t even notice she was in danger, too busy narrowing her eyes at the exchange between their two leaders.

 

“What did they say?” she asked, almost whispering into Anya’s shoulder. Anya raised an eyebrow and then scowled, she did not want give away their dire situation without her Commander allowing her to do so, so as she tried almost successfully not to glare Raven to death, she told her the biggest lie she could have at the time, without actually lying.

 

“It doesn’t matter for now.” and it didn’t, as long as they didn’t have the information to answer this question, they would simply have to proceed as if their enemies know every single thing about them and their future actions.

 

“I know some Trigedasleng, Cheekbones, this didn’t sound like nothing.” Anya was surprised, it seemed that the  _ skaigoufa _ were a little smarter this time, learning the language and the culture. Maybe there will be peace.

 

“They fear what they cannot control.” growled Anya and left it with that. Raven nodded sagely at Anya’s words.

 

“Clarke’s afraid our enemies know just as much as we do. Must be it.” Anya looked Raven from the corner of her eye, she was impressed by the girl’s intuition. She hummed to signal the girl she was right, Raven smirked to herself and Anya’s face once again returned to their blank expression.

 

The hour was growing late and Lexa wished to end this meeting, not that she wasn’t pleased by the reunion, she even found herself pleasantly enjoying the company of the rest of the younger  _ skaikru _ teenagers who she had little to no contact at all in their last life, as they all caught up to date with each others worlds. But she couldn’t end this important exchange of information without telling the most technologically advanced allies she had about the new discovery.

 

“There is something more.” she said as she noticed the teenagers becoming twitchy with fatigue. They give her their full attention despite it, the mutual respect already beginning to form between them.

 

“Few months ago,  _ pol _ , the leader of the  _ delfikru _ informed me his  _ gona _ found a curious phenomenon. This didn’t happen last time.” stressed Lexa, and they all perked up, their minds racing.

 

“The  _ gona  _ found an old world city.” she took a deep breath. “Completely intact.” sharp breaths were taken in all around her. She pressed on. “Not a soul to be found, not even the remnants of life.” Eyes widen even Anya and Indra, who’ve only heard bits and pieces about the new discovery seemed surprised.

 

“What about skeletons? Bones wouldn’t be gone after less than a century.” asked Clarke, ever the scientist.

 

“None.” Lexa shook her head.

 

“That’s… impo- it doesn’t make any sense!” growled Clarke.

 

“Nothing is out of place, more than that,  _ pol _ claims his  _ gona _ have searched some of the homes as well, they were all untouched, not a speck of dust, no toy out of place.”

 

“Like… Time was frozen?” asked Raven, already running over all the possibilities in her mind, coming up empty.

 

Lexa looks straight at her, deep creases of concern lining her forehead, making her seem much older than she actually is.

 

“ _ sha _ . Frozen, like the trees around  _ azgeda _ lake region. Unmoving and preserved to the greatest detail.”

 

Lexa then turned to the rest of the people in the room.

 

“I had hoped that once we settle the rest of your people amongst the people of  _ polis _ , we would leave to search the city ourselves.”

 

“What about the Mountain?” asked Clarke, who did not forget the danger that was still present in this world.

 

“We could search the city and then join the rest of our people near the Mountain.” said Lexa her face turned to Clarke, seeking her approval.

 

“It’s not on the way, is it?” sighed Clarke, already knowing the answer to her question, Lexa shook her head. Clarke nodded.

 

“Of course.” she huffed and fell quiet once again.

 

“You may take your leave for the night,” said Lexa as she stood from her throne, stepping down the stairs of the daise. The newly arrived teenagers looked relieved and tired as they filtered out of the room. Anya and Indra nodded their farewell to Lexa, a small bow and they were both gone.

 

Clarke and Lexa were left on their own.

 

Clarke rose from her seat as well and closed the distance between them, her arms sliding around Lexa’s waist to hold onto her, Lexa wrapped her arms around Clarke as they settled into their embrace, alone for the first time in years, since their first, and last, time together.

 

They stood there in silence for some time, soaking in the feeling of each others arms. Breathing in the smell of Clarke’s hair, Lexa couldn’t help but tear up for the first time in years. She truly believed all hope was lost, and that CLarke would never remember who she was, who they were together. But here she was, in the arms of her love, her nose buried in her hair and her heart racing as if she was running fast as the wind.

 

“ _ ai hod yu in, klark kom skaikru, beja, nou bants ai nodotaim. _ ” she whispered her voice rough with emotion.

 

“ _ nowe, ai laik yun, leksa kom trikru, yu nou ste soulou. ai hod yu in seintaim. _ ”

 

A few more minutes went by before the two released each other enough to let a breath of air between their bodies.

 

“You must be tired.” said Lexa as she sniffled quietly, letting Clarke go.

 

“I am” smiled Clarke sadly, they were well aware they couldn’t be together tonight, at least not officially.

 

“Before you go, there’s something I wanted to ask you.” Clarke nodded but did not speak, allowing Lexa to take her time with her question.

 

“I didn’t say anything before, because I haven’t even told  _ onya _ .” Clarke nodded again. “Would you be willing to come visit the Nightbloods with me? They would love to see you again.”

 

Clarke’s eyes sharpened and then clouded over in a matter of moments. Silent tears slipped down her cheeks and her hand rose to her mouth, trying to hold in her quiet sobs.

She nodded quickly and her mouth opened and closed, as if she had something to say, but couldn’t find the words to. The tears now falling down her face like waterfalls.

 

She was home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now there's no language barrier...
> 
> leksa, em pleni! ai ai ste laksen! - Lexa, enough! My eyes hurt!  
> onya, yu na gaf in ai konge ona fisa? - Anya, would you like for me to call for the healer?  
> klark, yu lokut, ai nou get emo in. - Clarke, your friends, I don’t recognize them.  
> sha, moba leksa, emo don stedaunon las taim. - Yes, sorry Lexa, they were dead last time.  
> klark? yu laik ogud? - Clarke? Are you okay?  
> sha, niron, en ste os. - Yes, love, all is good.  
> ai nou laik tich, ai nou dula kom goufa! - I’m not a teacher, I don’t work with children!  
> en yu natblida? - And your Nightbloods?  
> yu lokut. - your friend  
> Skaion - Sky Person  
> rowan, karis, luna en naikou, emo don mema in seintaim. - Roan, Caris, Luna and Nyko, they remember as well.  
> leksa, taim osir kru mema in, don osir baga mema in seintaim? - Lexa, if our people remember, do our enemies remember as well?  
> ai nou get em in, klark, hofli noumou mema in. - I don’t know, Clarke, Hopefully no one remembers.  
> Skaigoufa - Sky children  
> Gona - warrior  
> ai hod yu in, klark kom skaikru, beja, nou bants ai nodotaim. - I love you, Clarke of the Sky People, please don’t leave me again.  
> nowe, ai laik yun, leksa kom trikru, yu nou ste soulou. ai hod yu in seintaim. - Never, I am yours, Lexa of the Woods Clan. you are not alone. I love you too.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I'm late. Would you be comforted to know I was actually sick? because I wasn't, but I was so busy I thought I would become sick from sleep deprivation.  
> This one's a bit of a filler, but I couldn't help it, I wanted some fluffy Clarke time before it all went down... Although I'm a more of a fluffy Lexa kinda gal, but that's so not like the Lexa in my story, so I'm sticking to fluffy Clarke, for now...

It was that same night that Lexa asked Clarke to join her in the secret passage to the Nightbloods’ floor. She never showed it to her last time around, because Aden had beat her to the punch, dragging Clarke by the hand and showing her the staircase that begun three floors down and ended on Lexa’s personal floor, which meant it connected all the Nightbloods’ living quarters, including the reigning Commander, the Throne Room, the War Rooms and the Great Feast Hall, which was the lowest floor the passage reached, the last five stories of the Commander’s Tower, the only thing above it, was the roof, which the only access to was directly from the Commander’s bed chambers.

 

After their long few minutes of solitude together, the two separated and Lexa signaled for one of her guards to show Clarke to her room on the same floor with the rest of her people. As Clarke was leaving, Lexa gathered herself for a few moments in the empty throne chamber and left herself, heading to her personal chambers, informing the guards that she’s not to be disturbed after her dinner was served. They showed no change in their expression, but Lexa knew they heard her, this is after all, what they were trained for, what made her early days as Commander very lonely, before Aden could speak and after all of her brothers and sisters of the blood were defeated.

 

Clarke on the other hand, took her time to look over the tower she called home for some short months before all went to hell and the peace she and Lexa worked so hard to create, especially Lexa, washed down the drain. The wide corridors, the candle holders in every corner and the occasional touch were so different from the harsh white LED lights of the Ark, which somehow made her feel even more at home. The golden glow and sounds of life from the streets below them, despite the late hour, were all making her feel at home, which was more than she could have hoped for, knowing that things are going to get better now, that they weren’t alone in their fight to survive left her feeling much lighter than she had been since the moment she awoke on the Ark, three years before.

 

She was brought to one of the lower floors, which she knew were wider than the upper floors, which meant they held more rooms, and housed usually the huge parties of clan delegates during important times in the year, though she was well aware, never had the Tower been housing to it’s full capacity before, and it certainly wasn’t now, not even the floor on which they were housed was completely full now, despite the fact that apart from a few of the younger teenagers that were brought down with them were housed alongside the older, more trustworthy teenagers present, all were given their own rooms.

 

Clarke’s room was small, a full sized bed was pushed against the inner wall, while most of the outer wall was a floor to ceiling window, it’s glass thick but Clarke could spy a little clasp at the middle right side and a short, thin metal chain attached to it, she gathered the window can be pushed open, but not enough to endanger anyone doing so. A small armoire sat near the room’s door and a white china bassinet sat on top of a small side table near the bed, a jug of water next to it. All of her things, not that she had many, sat neatly on the bed, untouched.

 

She was informed by the guard that there were communal bathrooms on the end of the corridor to her bedroom’s right side and toilets to the left, she grinned to herself when she was reminded that in Polis, this conveniences were something widely available, unlike what she was sure the others were thinking when they realized just how wild like the grounders were when they got to sit down and speak to the warriors that came to lead them to Polis.

 

The guard left and Clarke was on her own for the first time in days. She closed her bedroom’s door and locked the door behind her, she approached her packs and noticed immediately there was another pack nestled in with the rest. The pack was smallish, wrapped in thin fabric that was close to burlap in texture, it was tied in twine and would have been inconspicuous had Clarke not been aware of each and every pack she had. On the extra pack a small piece of paper was folded into two, and Clarke knew that this would answer the question of where the pack came from. Reaching for the thin paper, Clarke smiled, in thin chicken scrawl, a message was written.

 

_ klark, _

_ kom leksa _

_ onya _

 

There’s a small smile on her lips as she opens the package, in it a soft cotton shirt dyed grayish blue, some leather trousers that were so soft to the touch Clarke wanted to pet them instead of wear them, a promising sign indeed, and a long rolled bandage from a thick yet breathable material, what was used instead of a bra, or at least Clarke’s preferred method, as after she had undressed Lexa, Clarke was well aware that the Commander herself was rather partial to actual bras.

 

Clarke took her new clothes and the towel she found inside the armoire and made her way to the showers. She wasn’t alone. A few others had made their way to the showers as well, excited to use showers with high water pressure for more than a couple of minutes for the first time in their short lives.

 

The sounds of laughter and joy were surprisingly soothing for Clarke, the young delinquents seemed to get over their nudity and were standing together under the many shower-heads spread around the fairly large room. In the corner, almost looked over by Clarke, since all the noise was drawing her attention, stood Raven, her head turned up, her face right underneath the current, her thick brown hair heavy with water, flowing down her shoulders and back, her face smooth and her eyes closed. She looked serene, and Clarke couldn’t help but take the time to admire her best friend’s serenity, and wish she could feel the same, even without being wrapped in Lexa’s arms.

 

Her feet made her decision for her, and carried her to the same spray Raven was standing under. True, there were no other available showers and many of the former Arkers seemed to find themselves sharing their own showers, but they weren’t the same. They couldn’t remember their friends’ dead bodies, or Raven’s mangled scars that littered her lower back or the pokered round scars on Harper and Raven’s thighs.

 

Without a word, as Clarke drew closer, Raven moved to the side, just enough that Clarke could wash herself as well. On the wall, right under the shower head, there was a small shelf, holding a milky paste and a bar of soap, Clarke was well aware that this innocent paste was a rather strong substance and only took a small portion of it before rubbing it to her scalp.

The familiar burn was rather pleasant, the minty smell and the smooth texture were all some form of a comfort for her, it wasn’t the same scent that Lexa carried, but it was close enough to remind her she was home.

 

“You know, I’ve always wondered how the hell Grounders smelled so damn good… Now I know!” smirked Raven, her long lashes sticking together as she opened her eyes, making them look thicker, making her eyes more dominant.

 

“You didn’t think they had showers?” Clarke was confused, with all the animosity Raven had for the Commander back in the old world, she never underestimated the Grounders, and even respected them much more than many of their people.

 

“I thought they were bathing in the rivers or something! Never thought they would actually have working showers and shampoo!”

 

“The world was destroyed, Raven, but the people weren’t. Don’t you think that some of the first things to be rebuilt after the bombs were the essentials? Plumbing included?”

 

“They don’t have electricity!”

 

“Not an essential, Raven, not when you don’t have anything to run it for. Water and waste on the other hand, were essential, then and now.” said Clarke as she finished lathering both her hair and her body. She continued washing the suds off her body as Raven continued to chatter about all the conveniences she didn’t think they would find with the Grounders, but were there anyway.

 

Dressing in her new clothes, Clarke waited for Raven to finish dressing in the clothes she landed with. Looking up Raven rolled her eyes.

 

“Lexa?” she stated more than asked. Clarke blushed lightly and nodded. The clothes she was wearing fit her like a glove and weren’t itching like the Ark’s clothes did.

 

“Let’s go, lover girl, you’ll see her tomorrow…”

 

“Actually, Raven, I need a favor.”

 

“Clarke! Really?!”

 

“It’s not what you think!”

 

“Really?!” snorted Raven as the two made their way outside to the hallway.

 

“Yeah, there’s something that needs to be done before we continue with our plan…-”

 

“Yeah, Lexa.”

 

“No! Raven, this is serious.” exclaimed Clarke and pulled Raven to a stop by grabbing her arm and pulling hard.

 

“Raven, there are things I cannot tell you just yet, but Lexa informed me and we will be taking care of them, together, so tomorrow there won’t be anything that’s holding us back.”

 

“Fine! What do you need me to do?”

 

“I need you to lock my door on the outside and take the key, tell everyone I’m sleeping and I’ll talk to them in the morning, and if it’s an emergency, take care of it, or sent one of the guards to find Lexa, she’ll give me the message.”

 

“Fine! You soooo owe me!”

 

“Thank you!” called Clarke behind her, as she was already running down the hall on her way to the secret passage to the Nightbloods’ sleeping quarters.

 

“I own her now! This is our first night in an actual bed for days and I’m babysitting!” Raven mutters to herself as she moves towards Clarke’s bedroom, she takes the key from the inside and locks it on the outside, removing the key she makes her way to her own bedroom, hoping that as soon as her eyes close and she falls asleep, the rest of the delinquents are doing the same.

 

*** ***

 

Lexa was already waiting for Clarke when she reached the previously designated meeting place of the two, greeted by a gorgeous smile and brilliant Jade colored eyes, Clarke couldn’t help but grin herself.

 

Throwing herself into Lexa’s open arms she nestled her nose under Lexa’s ear, making the rather ticklish woman giggle.

 

“ _ ai niron, oso natblida don sed raun pleni. _ ”

 

“ _ oso natblida, heda? _ ” Lexa had the decency to blush.

 

“ _ sha, niron, emo laik oso. _ ” Clarke could feel her eyes filling with tears, but as they ran down her cheeks, she smiled widely, her lips meeting Lexa’s halfway, they didn’t kiss for long though, no, their Nightbloods have waited long enough.

 

*** ***

 

Stepping into the Nightbloods’ hallway, the two were greeted by nine children looking at them wide eyed and caught in the middle of what seemed like a rather intense pillow fight. Caught red handed by the Commander herself was probably not in their plans, but as a small smirk grew on Lexa’s lips, Clarke already managed to find a couple of untouched pillows in the room nearest to them and handed one to Lexa. Nodding at each other, the two supposed adults in the room made to hit each and every child in the hallway, leading them all to one of the largest rooms in the floor, Aden’s bedroom.

 

Laughing and wheezing, the children piled up on Aden’s bed and to the floor right next to it. Breathing deeply through her nose, taking in the smell and the feel of the bedroom, of those children, Clarke grinned as widely as she ever had, before her were all the children she had grown so close to in the short few months she called Polis her home. They sat there, staring and grinning at each other, there was no need for words or acknowledgments, they were all here, alive, this was enough for now.

 

A few short minutes later, Lexa broke the silence.

 

“ _ natblida, oso nou gada bitam taim, ba klark gaf ai yu op. _ ” the children smiled at Lexa’s words, they had hoped to see Clarke again when they heard the whispers of the  _ skaikru _ that made their way to Polis earlier that day.

 

“ _ yongon, _ ” if it were possible, Clarke smiled an even wider smile as she addressed the children. “ _ wor mebi komba raun ba oso nou na ge daun, ai kru ste hir kos oso gada ona strat gon maun-de en taim osir bakon hir, oso na gada ogonzaun, hofli, feva. _ ”

 

The children weren’t expecting to hear that from Clarke, they were used to all the calming speeches coming from Lexa as Clarke worried over them, looking over their injuries and slipping them an extra piece of cake behind Titus’ back.

 

“ _ kalrk? _ ” Aden’s youthful voice cracked with emotion.

 

“ _ sha, aiden? _ ”

 

“ _ yu swega nou bants osir op klin? _ ” Aden’s request reminds Clarke that despite it all, the Nightbloods were nothing more than children, and like any other child who had been burnt one too many times, they needed assurance, and she was more than willing to give it to them.

 

“ _ nowe, nou taim ai kikon.” _

 

*** ***

 

They chatted with the Nightbloods for a few more minutes, catching Clarke up to what they have been up to, then Clarke helped Lexa get all the Nightbloods to their respective beds, letting the older ones, like Aden and Ren stay up a little later, helping them with the youngest of the novitiates which were four and three years old.

 

Aden and Ren were rather clever about their extra time with the older women, asking them about the clans new approach to  _ skaikru _ and Lexa quite happily told them all about the difference in circumstances that allowed such a pleasant welcome to  _ skaikru _ .

 

Finally, the two young leaders had put all the young one to sleep and were left alone to their own devices. Confessing there wasn’t anyone waiting for her downstairs in her own bedroom for the night, Clarke was led by Lexa back to the Commander’s bed chambers. They came through the secret passage, as to not alert Lexa’s guards to Clarke’s presence, they were both tired, too tired to do anything but fall asleep in each others arms, but that was enough. For now.

 

The next morning came too quickly, and thus, war had begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trig... Trig... Where art you thee?
> 
> Klark, kom leksa onya - Clarke, from Lexa, Anya  
> ai niron, oso natblida don sed raun pleni. - My love, our Nightbloods have waited enough.  
> oso natblida, heda? - Or Nightbloods, Commander?  
> sha, niron, emo laik oso. - Yes, love, they are ours.  
> natblida, oso nou gada bitam taim, ba klark gaf ai yu op. - Nightbloods, we don’t have much time, but Clarke wanted to see you.  
> Yongon, - Children,  
> wor mebi komba raun ba oso nou na ge daun, ai kru ste hir kos oso gada ona strat gon maun-de en taim osir bakon hir, oso na gada ogonzaun, hofli, feva. - War maybe coming, but we won’t let that get us down, my people are here because we have a plan for the Mountain, and when we come back here, we will have peace, hopefully, forever.  
> sha, aiden? - Yes Aden?  
> yu swega nou bants osir op klin? - You promise not to leave us?  
> nowe, nou taim ai kikon. - Never, not as long as I live.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> I rather like this one and how it turned out, so I'm happily giving it away with a great weekend wishes to you all!

Usually, an audience with the Commander was set to the time after the midday meal, leaving the morning for Coalition business and the like, this time though, the matter was rather urgent, at least, in Lexa’s eyes it was.

 

The entire group of 100 teenagers and Bellamy Blake, who no longer was, gathered in the Commander’s Throne Room, which accommodated them all quite comfortably. They stood there, not one of them standing still. The younger ones were looking around in awe, shifting in their place, turning and searching for more to see, the older ones, especially the ones who spent the longest in the SkyBox, were staring at the armed guards at the doors with suspicion and were whispering amongst themselves.

 

Clarke herself stood near the front of the room, almost right in front of Lexa’s throne, which stood empty, for now, Clarke knew how much Lexa adores her grand entrances, she was always somewhat of a drama queen.

 

The doors opened with a flourish and Titus made a swift entrance into the room, his dark robes swishing around his legs, Clarke tried her hardest to hold in the glare she wished to bestow upon the man. Titus claimed his place to the right of the throne, standing still, hands behind his back and chin tilted high, his eyes sharp, he wasn’t even trying to hide his contempt over their presence.

 

What might have been seconds, or maybe minutes, later, the doors opened once again, this time more quietly, and Lexa, wearing simple cotton clothes stepped in, her hair was soft and unbraided, and in her hand was a scroll of parchment, Clarke knew that this kind of writing material was used for more official documents, for the knowledge and ability to make tree based paper was not lost to the clans.

 

After Lexa’s unassuming entrance, Indra and Anya followed quietly and last but not least, Gustos stepped in, his broad shoulders covered with metal plates that connected to a short red velvet cape, his hips were encircled by a broad leather belt, a short, broad sword attached to it and a single dagger on the opposite side completed the image of the threatening man.

 

Most of the teenagers were utterly surprised when Lexa, in her plain clothing and clean face was the one to proceed to sit on the throne, the warriors that entered with her spreading around the dais to be able to better protect her should anyone try to harm her.

 

“Let it be known,” Lexa begun with a strong voice, it caught the attention of whoever weren’t paying attention to her just yet. “That this meeting is informal, and that any official decision that has to be made would be decided at a later date, through the proper channels.” with this finality Lexa stared into the crowd before her and waited for some form of acknowledgment.

 

Clarke was quick to give it to her, nodding decisively and looking determined, she made others nod along, wanting to look like they at least had some sort of idea of what to do in this situation.

 

“Very well,” Lexa was off once again. “I am  _ heda leksa kom trikru _ , Commander of the Twelve Clans. Yesterday evening, your leaders came to me and told me your story. To say I was disgusted by your people’s intention to send you to your death for actions that among my people are not seen as crimes at all, and others’ willingness to offer their support of fair punishment, it was not something I like hearing about.

They also told me about the people who helped bring you here safe and alive, those back on your home in the sky, and others, here, my warriors that have lend you a hand in your time of need. I have already expressed to my people the pride I feel to hear that my people have given willingly to help others in need, I would certainly hope you would all do the same soom.” Lexa looked around the room, trying to look into the eyes of each and every  _ skaikru _ in the room.

 

“Your problem has a very simple solution, my people would be willing to take you in, train you in your chosen profession and allow you to live among us, if you so wish, another option, is for you to leave our lands and find yourselves a new home, away from us, governed by you and that is only yours to rule over, let me warn you though, it may sound great, the freedom to be on your own, and to have your own land, away from us, who are strangers to you, and our cultures different than yours, but to reach a land that is not Coalition land, you would have to walk many days, South, North, West, it matters not, and even then, I cannot promise you would find  habitable lands. We have settled where there can be life, we left the wastelands behind, but I cannot be sure there aren’t anymore clans, unknown to us, in the lands beyond.

Here, I can promise you sanctuary and a home, now, I am well aware, you people have explained to me last night, that you are not the official leaders of your entire people, but I am not offering this to all of your people, I am offering it to you, those of you who’ve been casted out of your home, a chance to build a new one among us, if you so wish.”

 

She let that sink into the minds of the teenagers before her, more and more of them showing signs of excitement and joy. They should have offered them the same deal last time, she thought to herself, the one thing these **children** truly wanted, was a home.

 

One stood out, Bellamy, his frown deep, his arms crossed over his chest, he was scanning the teenagers around him with a look of contempt in his eyes. He was the one supposed to lead them, he was the one who makes these kind of decisions for them, now that they were on the ground, and he was well in his right to make the choice to leave these savages’ lands and find a new home, of their own, while they waited for the rest of the Ark to follow them down here. They were better than these sword wielding heathens and there wasn’t a world in which he would fall under the leadership of this slip of a girl, who couldn’t be older than himself.

 

“Yeah,” he spoke out loud, trying to project his voice just as strongly as the girl in front of him did effortlessly, without much success. “Thanks for the offer, but we’ll take our luck elsewhere, our people would want us to find them all a new home, not one just for us, besides, there are only criminals here, they have no right to decide for themselves anymore.” the teenagers around him began to anger as he dismissed their rights right in front of them.

 

“Actually, Bellamy,” Octavia was the one to speak, surprising Bellamy, “If you took the time to listen to Jaha’s message on the dropship, you would know that the minute we landed, all alive, each and every kid on the dropship was pardoned from his crimes, so, yeah, I vote we stay here.”

 

Bellamy grew as angry as the kids he just insulted if not worse, his sister, who wasn’t even supposed to be on the dropship, who was a stranger to all those unfortunate kids, was siding with them, not that it mattered anyway.

 

“None of you are over the age of majority, your lives are still under my authority.” he was grasping at his last straws, not that he was aware.

 

“You weren’t listening carefully enough to the offer, Mr. Blake,” Clarke’s voice was so sweet it sounded sharp, “We were offered a home here, as part of those people, I don’t suppose they meant for us to keep playing by the Ark’s rules, but by their’s, and if the offer was true, it means they see us all as competent enough to make this decision for ourselves.”

 

“You can’t just ignore the Ark’s rules! You can’t just ignore me!” shouted Bellamy, his face red with anger.

 

“They can, and they will.” Lexa’s hiss was so loud she wasn’t sure it still counted as such. “I have no loyalty to your ‘Ark’ as you called it,” she doesn’t except she swore to Clarke she would treat her people as her own. “I don’t know your people,” also, not true, she had met a fair few of them during the planning period before their attack on Mount Weather. “I certainly don’t know your leaders and lawmakers.” She knows Clarke. She also knows Abby, Sinclair whom she met briefly before, Marcus, the one she would gladly work with again, given the chance and the choice. She knew their Chancellor, Thelonious Jaha, and well, his state when he left her care was a sign to how much she cared for the man himself, she did not hold much more of him as a leader either. “I care not for what they would want, what they would say about my offer, it wasn’t for them, and apparently, it wasn’t for you either,  _ belomi kom skaikru _ , I am offering those who were cast out of their homes unwillingly and without reason, a home. You were not, you came here for the sole purpose of upholding their oppressors laws, that, boy, makes you a liability for me, and those under my rule, my offer does not stand for you either, you may take your leave, my guards will help you take some supplies for your long journey, out of Coalition lands.” Bellamy stared hard at Lexa, trying to get a read on her, but she was a master at this game, he had no chance.

 

“C’mon, O, let’s get going,” he turned on his heels and made his way to the grand double-doors, until he noticed his younger sister wasn’t following him.

 

“No way, Bellamy, they are offering me a home, a way to make a life for myself, what they hell does the Ark have to offer me? Huh? They didn’t even know I existed. I’m staying here. You go, do their biddings, maybe someday we would meet again.” Bellamy was about to jump his own sister, but the guards noticed his erratic behavior and were on him before he made the first step, holding him by his upper arms, dragging him out of the Throne Room by Lexa’s direction.

 

It took a few moments before anyone else dared make a sound.

 

“What do you get out of this deal, Commander?” asked Monroe, Harper had to hold back a smile, her childhood friend was always suspicious of authority figures.

 

“Allies.” said Lexa, her tone vague.

 

“You obviously have some, Commander of the Twelve Clans and all.” cut Atom and almost all were surprised to hear Lexa chuckle at his words.

 

“Yes, I have many fighting under my banner, but none have the technological capabilities you have.”

 

“What do you know about our ‘Technological Capabilities’?” asks Fox, her forehead filling with worry lines.

 

“Enough to know you would all be important assets in our fight against the Mountain.”

 

Titus gasps loudly, and even Gustos and the rest of the guards in the room look slightly sickened by the suggestion.

 

“What mountain?” asks Atom, Wells is the one that answers for the Commander.

 

“Mount Weather.”

 

“Weren’t we supposed to go there?” asks Fox, looking at Wells for guidance.

 

“Clarke?” Wells differed to their true leader for answers.

 

“When we made surveys of the ground, we notices a wide ring around the mountain that had no real concentration of wildlife and or villages, we assumed there was something that was either toxic or dangerous enough to make even the animals stay away from it.”

 

“There is,” Lexa is eager to explain, to make sure none of the teenagers ever tried to make their way to the Mountain on their own. “The  _ maunon _ release the acid fog - it burns the flesh off your bones - every time a group of people comes too close to the Mountain’s entrances.”

 

“Why should we help you? It’s not our fight!” Finn was the one to speak up this time, making both Raven and Clarke sigh deeply in an attempt to calm themselves before they say something they regret.

 

“It is our fight, Finn,” Raven took it upon herself to explain their situation. “From what the Commander told us yesterday, it seems the people in the Mountain are taking their people and either drugging them and making them into some sort of cannibalistic monsters or they kidnap innocents and drain them of their blood, discarding of their bodies by feeding them to their drugged up counterparts, so, yeah, it’s our fight too, because I don’t know a way in hell I’m sharing this world with these kind of monsters.”

 

“I won’t ask of you what I won’t ask of my own people.” soothed Lexa, but those who knew her well enough knew, she was willing to ask her people for the highest of prices, should there be a need for it, but she was not one to take what she isn’t willingly offered.

 

“Still, why offer us something like that?” Zoe Monroe was a stubborn one.

 

“This offer is as much for my people as it is for yours. We have lived under the Mountain’s shadow for too long. No more, not when we have the chance to defeat them for once and for all.”

 

“What assurances do we have that you won’t throw us away when we are no longer needed?” asks one of the older teens, one of the most senior prisoners, having spent all of his teens in the SkyBox.

 

“You don’t.” said Lexa, her tone calm and her face expressionless, somehow, this cold and calculating behavior was comforting to the 100, having seen the faux-caring attitude of the Ark’s council and it’s Chancellor, they could count on a calculating leader that made logical choices, they couldn’t trust a power-hungry manipulative son of a bitch that was the Ark’s present Chancellor.

 

“We’ll take the deal.” While it was Clarke that was regarded to make this kind of decisions in the past few days, ever since they landed, really, it couldn’t be her this time, it would have come too quickly, too eagerly. This time, Nathan was the one to speak, surprising many, since he had kept mostly silent for as long as they have been on the ground, only speaking when spoken to.

 

Lexa nodded sagely, and took a moment before speaking again, letting the teens digest the desicion.

“We would be leaving for the Mountain in a few days, we’ll be separated into smaller groups, to allow us a better chance of survival as a whole, you’ll be spread around the companies, those of you more capable of handling technology would be joining me, we would be leaving a little sooner, the rest, you would be trained here, to ensure you would all be capable of protecting yourselves should time comes.”

 

“It won’t be enough.” Anya half hissed, half warned. Lexa nodded.

 

“But it would be better than them not having any training at all.” With these words, Lexa stood from her throne, making her way out, leaving unsettled group of teens behind her and a very worried group of generals.

 

*** ***

 

Dawn barely broke the skyline as Clarke made her way to the convoy, dragging an extremely grumpy Raven and an overly chipper Octavia behind her. The darkness around them was only broken by a weak torch light, once every dozen meters or so.

 

Reaching the convoy, Clarke began to notice familiar faces and grinned. Apart from her own people and Lexa, perhaps even Anya, Clark expected that no one familiar would be joining them, but she was proven wrong.

 

“ _ wanheda. _ ” the word was meant as a welcome, she was sure of it, but despite all the time that has passed, she still hated that moniker with passion. The man who said it, on the other hand, she was rather fond of.

 

“ _ naikou _ ” her smile bright as she approaches the man, taking his offered arm in hers.

 

“ _ mounin hou. em ste os yu laik hir, osir sonraun nou bilaik seim taim yu nou laik hir. _ ” his grin and the deep grumble of laughter allowed her to join in on the joke.

 

“ _ hosh _ ” she allowed herself to continue his thought process.

 

“ _ sha, en nou skaigoufa ron raun gon trimeni laik pauna! _ ” 

 

Clarke was about to retort when she noticed Wells standing in front of the horse designated for him, trying to stare him down, Clarke never thought she would see an amused horse, but here she was, looking at her childhood best friend, who seemed to be amusing a horse, unintentionally, of course.

 

“ _ moba, naikou. _ ” she motioned with her head to Wells and Nyko grinned and nodded in understanding.

 

As she closed in on Wells, she noticed Raven and Octavia standing nearby, looking as if they were about to lose consciousness over laughing. To make matters worse, Lexa herself was standing right next to them, looking very much amused.

 

Clarke changed her trajectory zoning in on the three women who couldn’t help the poor boy out.

 

“ _ leksa? _ ” she turned to the Commander first, knowing this wasn’t the first time she was introducing someone to riding a horse.

 

“ _ yu lokut tel ai op, em nou gaf sis au. _ ” Clarke then grinned as well, understanding this was a product of Wells’ pride.

 

“How long has he been standing here, like that?” she asked.

 

“About 10 minutes or so.” answered Lexa, her grin infectious now when she was no longer hiding her amusement,

 

“I think I should go and help him out, or we are never leaving on time.”

 

“ _ hod op, klark _ ” Lexa grabbed her upper arm softly, running her fingers over the fabric sensually. “ _ huk em op mou taim. _ ” she was grinning, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

 

“You are cruel.” Clarke grinned as well.

 

“This is a cruel, cruel world.” retorted Lexa. They settled for watching Wells stare down his horse for a little while longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how it goes...
> 
> heda leksa kom trikru - Commander Lexa of the Woods Clan  
> Wanheda - Commander of Death  
> Naikou - Nyko  
> mounin hou. em ste os yu laik hir, osir sonraun nou bilaik seim taim yu nou laik hir. - Welcome home. It’s good you are here, our lives weren’t the same without you.  
> Hosh - Quiet.  
> sha, en nou skaigoufa ron raun gon trimeni laik pauna! - Yes, and no sky children running around the forest like Gorillas!  
> moba, naikou - Sorry Nyko  
> yu lokut tel ai op, em nou gaf sis au. - Your friend told me he didn’t need any help  
> hod op, klark - Wait, Clarke  
> huk em op mou taim - Give him more time.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So,,, Don't get used to the early update...  
> It's the 29th of September here, and has been for at least an hour, which means, today is my Twentieth birthday, and as tradition demands, there are gifts to be had... Well, this is my gift to you all. (Tradition - never said anything about keeping to the guidelines, I'm like Clexa that way...)

The sounds of quick tapping on a keyboard broke the quiet of the room in a rather spacious Brownstone townhouse in Cambridge Massachusetts, previously only broken by the hums of machines.

 

A slurping noise, a groan.

 

“Would you do me a favor and quit it already?” The harsh tone was a testament to how long they were seated in the room, which despite the quiet was crowded with a rather impressive number of people.

 

“Would you quit it already…” mocked the chastised man as he continued tapping away on his keyboard.

 

“Mockery is not the product of a strong mind.” was thrown into the room and a few of the people gathered chuckled good naturally. 

 

“Also quoting people who you’ve never should have met.” mumbled the man, his smirk growing as he continued to work uninterrupted by the exchange.

 

“Do we have anything?” came from a new voice in the room, all turned to look to the doorway, where a tall, brunette was standing, her brown eyes scouring the room, searching for something, or rather someone.

 

“Communications are reestablished. Whenever you lot are ready.” says the man and a couple of the people gathered are now turning on a number of laptops, handing them out to the people in the room.

 

“Ethan is being annoying again,” tattled the one who asked the man to stop his slurping.

 

“Claudia.” admonished the woman in the doorway.

 

“Sorry, mom. He is though.”

 

“Get along, this is not the time to play games.” the brunette said as she entered the room, stepping behind Ethan and watching the screens he was working with. “By the way, where is your sister?”

 

“Not a clue. Said she and Kate are on their way, hours ago.”

 

“They do live hours away, darling.”

 

“Thought they would be here by now… This shit is important.”

 

“Claudia!” 

 

“Oh! C’mon, it’s not like you don’t cuss too!”

 

“Not in polite company.” everywhere around the room people are snorting in amusement, this room was filled with people who could hardly be called polite company.

 

“We are going live in 3...2...1…” The screens all around them blackened and then reloaded with a live image of a room far away.

 

“Lady Walsh,” nodded the man who showed up on the screen, his blonde hair short and his face clean shaved. His blue eyes, once filled with joy and crackled with life were tired and dim, his smile tense and his shoulders hunched, but otherwise, the man was the perfect image of order. His white crisp button up, his black tie and his black and red jacket, the pins on his lapels and the beret perched on the top of his head all pointed out the fact this man was part of the armed forces.

 

“Major Robbins.” greeted Walsh.

 

“What do you have for us, Timmy?” asks Ethan as he begins typing once again.

 

“Bad news, or good, depends on how ready you are for the final stage.”

 

People stop breathing on both sides of the video connection.

 

“We’re as ready as we’ll ever be.” came the voice from the Cambridge side of the Connection, this time it was another woman, seated at the back of the room, Felicity.

 

“Are we?” asked another man, Matthew, his husband, Daniel, who was seated right next to him, echoed his question.

 

“We are.” stated Walsh as she took a seat herself next to Ethan and began typing herself.

 

“Did you get our data dump?” Ethan slurped from his coffee again, making Claudia groan and Walsh to glare at him.

 

“We did.” tells them Major Robbins on the other side, he looks away from the camera for a minute and soon they see why. Two women are entering the picture as well.

 

“Dr. Lewis, Dr. Robbins” greets Walsh and the women smile at her.

 

“Helena,” greets Dr Lewis, Dr Robbins simply nods.

 

“Lauren,” Helena returns the favor.

 

“Lauren!” comes the excited voice from the doorway, a tall brunette, her silky hair messy from the quick jog she had just made, her hazel eyes bright and her lips stretched into a irrefutable smile.

 

“Chris!” grinned Dr Lewis from afar, as another woman, a blonde this time, walked into the room as well. “Kate!”

 

“Lauren” smiled Kate as she placed her hand on Chris’ sternum, helping the woman to control her breathing.

 

“What did I hear about the final stage just now?” asks Chris as she tries to steady her breathing.

 

“It’s been eight months.” says Major Robbins and many of the people around the two screens become pale and some curse out loud.

 

“How long?” Kate asks softly.

 

“Four months, isn’t that right?” speaks Helena.

 

“Yes.” Maj. Robbins nods sadly.

 

“Is it even possible?” asks Chris, her tone harsh and cold.

 

“Chris.” Helena calls her daughter out for her behavior.

 

“Yes.” Dr. Robbins.

 

“Yes?” many on the other side are stunned.

 

“They are on their way to the Ghost right as we speak, their perception filters are on standby to be brought down, once we have the leads, we can pull them all out.”

 

“What about the maintenance crews? How are we doing with keeping them unaware?” asks Helena.

 

“They don’t look it up anymore, this people are getting older, we have taken over the entire younger generation of the operation. They would only see it when the decade anniversary comes around, when they release the videos to the mainstream.” Says Dr Lewis, her blonde hair tied back in a french braid and her uniform immaculate.

 

“It’s too easy.” says Felicity, and the others would have agreed had they not been aware of why they were having such an easy time by now, almost 98 years later.

 

“It’s only easy because they are terminating at y-100. They have proven their point, there’s nothing more for them in this, it doesn’t make them anymore money, and it isn’t pretty or cute, it’s a violation of all we used to stand for as a race, this is not something they want to keep on the back burner for long.” Chris lectures passionately, as she settles near the monitors herself, grabbing another keyboard.

 

“How close are they?” she asks, this time Maj. Robbins’ smile can light an entire city.

 

“Minutes away.”

 

“What?” This was a unanimous question asked by those present in Cambridge.

 

Maj. Robbins lowered his head for a few moments and a rapid typing sound could be heard, Lewis and his sister joined him for a moments themselves and then, all but one of their monitors went dark, then rebooted. A smooth HD video steam was playing, they were in, fixed cameras and drones followed their only hope to bring thousands home.

 

A group of people, not too large, was moving smoothly on top of huge steeds, wearing leather and metal, their eyes masked by greasy warpaint, their leaders young and strong. And so, so different than any that came before them.

 

The group, worlds away, closed in on the predesignated location.

 

“As soon as they cross the boundary lines, begin dropping the filters,” orders Walsh, her eyes dancing on the screens before her, watching from every angle available. “10 percent per 30 minutes should do it.”

 

Chris begins typing into her own command line, Lewis and Robbins catch up on her thought process and join in on her efforts.

 

“We have vitals.” grinned Chris and saluted her partners on the other side.

 

“Good.” Helena is too excited to say anything else.

 

“I have the Trojan ready.” cheers Claudia.

 

“I have the cover feed on a loop, give them a couple more minutes please.” says Felicity, she and Claudia grin at each other and mimic an high-five from afar.

 

“They are going in.” reports Maj. Robbins, who has the best idea of where the boundary lines passes.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Helena speaks, a smile in her voice. “This is the beginning of the end, mark this day, because this is the day you all did something to redeem humanity as a whole.”

 

*** ***

 

The convoy begins their journey at first light, after Wells has given up and allowed Raven, of all people, to help him up. Soon after they left the center of the city, they notice they are being followed, it’s not as if their pursuers are even trying to be subtle about it, they are walking directly behind them, riding atop their own horses, they stop and soon the pursuers catch up, Nightbloods.

 

Aden and Ren to be exact, followed by Joel and Acacia, the second oldest in their class.

Lexa stares harshly at them, they do not cower, Clarke is trying hard not to laugh, this was so like them to silently come head to head, and apparently, the Nightbloods won this round.

Lexa sighs deeply, then nods at the four youngsters, they join the convoy, in silence.

 

As anticlimactic as the discovery of the four young Nightbloods been, they were in for a very long ride, and while some of the  _ skaikru _ present knew how to ride a horse well enough for the purpose of this journey, Wells and Charlotte did not. This turned out to be more amusing - and time consuming - than they anticipated.

 

About four hours into their travel, the scenery began to change, from the lush forests and hills, fields dotting the scape and small villages on the sides of the road, they were riding along, still in the forest, but the ground rocky and the path narrow, which made a harder terrain to navigate.

Wells fell off his horse, when his mount was spoked by a small critter. Huffing and puffing Wells heaved himself back on his feet, mock glaring at Clarke who was trying her hardest not to laugh.

 

“You don’t have much luck with horses, do you,  _ wels kom skaikru _ ?” drawles Lexa as she pulls her horse to a stop, bringing the rest of the convoy to a stop as well.

 

Wells sighs deeply, than wipes his hands on his trousers as he prepares himself to getting back on the horse, much to Lexa’s approval.

 

“I will get better, soon.” gasped Wells. “I think.”

 

Mounted up and clenching his thighs a little too tight, Wells’ mount shot forward, eliciting a roaring laughter from all around, Charlotte on the other hand, looked terrified

 

Riding a few hours more, the forest became a plain, and the plain became marshlands, plains again, small reservoirs of water and many man made ruins littered their path by the end of their way. They were closing in on their agreed upon meeting place with the rest of the convoy, which weren’t coming from Polis and its surrounding villages.

 

Sundown was upon them, the delight of colors in the sky made for a stunning backdrop as they settled in for the night, a camp built by the  _ trikru _ warriors among them. Anya, who was incharge of the warriors was rather pleased with the outcome, of course, many of the warriors who were part of the convoy were those of the Awakened and were more than capable of handling the camp by themselves, while still ensuring their secrets were well kept. But the free environment around them, allowed Lexa and Clarke to take part of the more mundane parts of building the camp, and they took much pleasure from it.

 

Tents and campfires were quickly built, game captured and dinner prepared. They were waiting still, but not for long.

 

The thundering sound of hooves hitting the hard packed dirt could be heard for miles away as the rest of the convoy raced to their camp’s location. Smiles and laughter were abundant as they were united once again.

 

Caris was the first to jump off her horse, giving it’s reins to one of her personal guards who were looking at her rather strangely. She quickly shed her stern expression as she almost ran towards Clarke and took her in her arms, holding her tight.

 

“ _ ai lokut, nou bants oso nodotaim! _ ” holding the younger woman close for a few minutes, Caris was soon hugged back by Clarke, who missed her old friend as well.

 

“Whoa!” Raven was ever the comedian, “Let the girl breath!” No one, in all the commotion noticed another young woman, hair red and wild, jumping off her own horse, nodding and smiling at Lexa a secretive smile, holding her finger to her lips, silently chuckling as Lexa rolled her eyes in amusement, another smile, and she was gone among the tents already set up around them. Luna has arrived.

 

Many of those around them found themselves chuckling along, but the loudest laugh of all came from a tall man, all deep chuckles and cocky grins.

 

Roan was amused, it has been too long since he had seen the young blonde, his friend and sometimes adversary, whom he missed dearly, having lost their sarcastic banter and was left with none to replace it.

 

“ _ wanheda _ ” he smirked as Clarke turned to face him next.

 

“ _ haihefa _ ” Clarke returned in kind.

 

Roan was the one to break their staring contest, knowing Clarke would more likely wait him out than he would her. Walking closer, he spread his arms and the two found themselves hugging for the first time, both in this world, and the one before.

 

Clarke separates from the burly king and wastes no time introducing the others.

 

“Guys, this is the Ice Nation Prince, Roan.” some nod and others look upon him with suspicion, they heard very little good about his clan.

 

“Pleasure.” he nods deeply at his new acquaintances.

 

“ _ nontu! _ ” a yell and a speeding form of an 11 year old was all that warned anyone of the incoming trajectory towards the Prince.

 

“ _ aiden _ ” Roan easily took the boy in his arms and held him close, kissing the top of his head, he looked at Lexa for a moment, gratefulness filling his eyes.

 

“ _ mochof, leksa, gon shil ai nomfa op. _ ” some of the people unaware of Aden’s origin gasped, others took the news quietly, making a note of the fact that not only was the Commander making sure all the clans worked together to achieve the impossible goal of the Coalition, but her favorite Novitiate was a descendant of the woman she most likely hated most in the world, and she had never mistreated any of the Nightbloods under her protection.

 

“ _ otaim _ ” she replies. “ _ em bilaik ai bro, nou na jomp em op thau jomp ai op fos. _ ” another collective gasp, more looks turned their way.

 

“ _ idowe, mochof. en leksa, _ ” Lexa nodded for Roan to proceed. “ _ ai gada imfou gon haiplana reah. _ ” Silence.

 

_ haiplana reah kom trikru,  _ Queen Rea of the Woods Clan, was the leader of the  _ trigedakru _ for many years now, she was fair and strong, and many of the neighboring clans both respected and feared her. She was rumored to have gone into hiding the day Lexa ascended, none were quite sure why, as Lexa never seemed intent on taking the  _ trigeda _ throne for herself. Going as far as allowing Anya - the Queen’s youngest sister and Lexa’s old mentor - to rule the Woods Clan in her absence.

 

While many feared Rea was already dead, they heard many rumors about her heirs, unnamed and kept a secret for as long as they lived, the two rumored children of the Queen of the Woods Clan, were not in a disputed existence, for enough had been in the know, therefore, their claim on the Wooden throne as legitimate as their mother’s. And now, there was obviously something they did not know, and the Queen might still be alive.

 

“ _ oso nou gada taim nau. oso na chich op taim oso kom op gon wankappa. _ ” Roan nodded in understanding, now was not the time to involve all of the of the present in  _ trigeda _ secrets.

 

The crowd dissipates as the rest of the newly arrived greet the  _ skaikru _ and their  _ heda _ , there is some laughter and tears as old acquaintances meet again after years of absence.

 

They eat dinner and retire to their tents, Clarke and Lexa having a moment on their own before their small tent is being invaded by the four young Nightbloods that joined them. Smirking over their heads, Lexa and Clarke allowed the youngsters to settle in the middle, it was a tight fit, but they were all warm and comfortable, feeling protected inside their cocoon of furs and wool.

 

The next morning they packed the camp quickly at first light, making their way onward towards their next destination, Cambridge.

 

The closer they came to  _ delfikru _ territory, the more excited everyone become, restless whispers and people having a hard time regulating their steeds’ speed. They were close, they could feel it in their bones.

 

The closer they were, their imagination ran wilder, and then, they were finally there, for the first time, gazing over a way of life, long lost to them all.

 

Looking upon the city from some ways away, they all felt their excitement rushing through their veins, making their heads spin and their hearts beat faster in their chests, their eyes flashing brightly at the sight and their thoughts racing.

 

All was well, except the fact the sight in front of them, was not what made them feel strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I did make it up... You'll know what I mean...  
> ai lokut, nou bants oso nodotaim! - My friend, don’t leave us again!  
> Haihefa - king  
> Nontu - father  
> Mochof, leksa, gon shil ai nomfa op. - Thank you, Lexa, for protecting my son.  
> Otaim, em bilaik ai bro, nou na jomp em op thau jomp ai op fos. - always, he’s my brother, no one will attack him without going through me first.  
> idowe, mochof. en leksa, ai gada imfou gon haiplana reah. - Anyway, Thank you. And Lexa, I have a message from Queen Rea.  
> oso nou gada taim nau. oso na chich op taim oso kom op gon wankappa. - We don’t have the time now, we will speak when we get to the dead city.


	19. Chapter Nineteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know! I'm late, I'm so sorry...  
> Apparently, driving three hours a day for three days in a row is really counter productive for my writing process. I blame my younger sister...  
> I've heard something a couple of days ago, something that made me sad. and mad. Love is love, no matter what form it takes of how it's expressed (unless it's hurting someone). There are no wrong and rights, and I was sad to realize that I wasn't even shocked to find bigotry in our community. As an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, it's important for me to say this, even if this the more understanding part of our community. One may love another or many, one may find pleasure in their sexuality and some may simply enjoy the romantic connection, but not one of us have the right to diminish what another is feeling. Keep on fighting, kru, we are no where closer to understanding than we were yesterday and the day before that. We are all human, and that all that matters.  
> On to brighter things, thank you all for the heartwarming birthday wishes!

Over time the machine hum is imperceptible to those who’ve lived with it their entire lives. The creaks groans that accompanied it lately, however, were not.

 

Jake Griffin was an intelligent man, or so he would like to believe, he also assumed a certain level of intelligence in his peers, most of all, he would like to assume some kind of a logical thought process in every human being, but what was going on in this very chamber was beginning to shadow over his world’s views. For example, Thelonious, in a move that defies logic, really, it does, has decided once again that the citizens of the Ark were in no need to know what was actually going on. Again. 

 

On his way to their latest council meeting, he is stopped in one of the side corridors by Callie, she’s smiling and her eyes are dancing in the harsh LED lights.

 

“They called.” she grins and Jake grins along.

 

“Does Marcus know? And Sinclair?” 

 

“They told me,” she smiles and Jake touched her shoulder, squeezing tightly, grinning still.

 

“Thank you, Thank you for all that you’ve done to help us.”

 

“I may be doing this for all of us, Jake, but make no mistake, there’s no chance in hell I’m letting Marcus and Abby have all the fun again!”

 

“Of course not.” smirked Jake as they both resumed their route to the council chamber.

 

“Besides. I just saw the ground.” smirks Callie right back.

 

“How was it?” he asked as they turned the corner, the council chamber in their sight.

 

“Everything we ever dreamt of, and so much more.”

 

*** ***

 

Right now, Jake Griffin really appreciated the fact he used to have a wristwatch. More than anything, he missed the bloody thing! The council was once again dragging their feet, but they were running out of time, he so wished to be able to tell the others what was really going on, but he couldn’t trust that Thelonious wouldn’t have him floated for it.

 

Some friend he was, that Jake was actually fearing for his life in his presence, sometimes he finds it hard to believe he had ever believed in this man to be his people’s leader,  to do the right thing in the face of a conflict, but here he was, sitting in with the rest of the council, waiting to hear another one of Thelonious’ outrageous theories about the 100 children they sent to Earth not a full week ago.

 

Abby was filling in the rest of the council on the children’s vital signs, stressing that not only were they still alive, but their stats were actually getting better.

 

“DId they communicate?” asks Thelonious, his patience, or his image of it, all gone when Abby still recalls all the small areas in which the 100’s life signs were getting better, stronger.

 

“Not yet.” says Sinclair as he sighed deeply, alerting the others he had much more to say, which he wasn’t willing to share, at least not without sufficient reason to trust them all to do the right thing.

 

Thelonious was startled, he knew Jake might be working against his wishes, or at least suspected as much, though he had no proof, but here was the only other genius technological mastermind left of this blasted Ark, unwilling to share important, he was sure it was all important, information about the space station’s state of being, or rather, their latest experiments’ well being.

 

“Jacopo?” widells Thelonious gently, but Sinclair is hardly moved by the placating gesture. He knew who he was dealing with.

 

“There isn’t much to be added, the 100 are doing great on the ground, as far as the data we have collected goes, the children -”

 

“Prisoners.” corrects Jaha firmly, he can’t have anyone reminded that they sent children to the ground, unprotected, untrained.

 

“The  **children** \- “ Sinclair stresses over the word intentionally, looking Thelonious in the eyes. “Are doing much better than was predicted, of course that can attributed to the fact that they aren’t limited in air and other basic resources they were  **denayed** in Prison Station.” I was a well known, yet little talked about fact, that the amount of Oxygen released into Prison Station was much lower than any other station on the Ark, the guards rotated every couple of hours as to not harm them or tire them out too quickly, but the prisoners were left there to rot, their food rations cut in half, already meager beforehand since children who are yet to acquire profession got about the third of a ration of a fully grown, professional adult, no matter their age or size,.

 

They sent weak atrophied children into the unknown, and while it was in Thelonious best interest to make the others forget this very fact, this was proof for Sinclair, Jake and Callie that the children were safe, and getting somewhere with their mission.

 

“They are doing well now, who’s to say they won’t get worse later on, what about Radiation Poisoning,” the Flint Station rep raised a rather wise question. “It has a latent phase, right?”

 

“It does.” Abby speaks up, “but for that there would have to be lethal, or at the very least harmful, radiation on the planet. We have considered this before sending the 100 to the ground.”

 

“But the latent phase can take weeks to appear, can it not?” asks Thelonious pleasantly, as if they were speaking of matters much more trivial than their children's’ lives.

 

Abby sneered at her former friend. “We made sure to test for radiation. And we continue to do so as we speak.” she nods at Jake and lets him explain what he knew better than her, the mechanics of the monitoring bands on the 100’s wrists.

 

“The wristbands have radiation meters on them. They alert us in real time to the radiation levels wherever they go. While the radiation levels on Earth are much higher than what was normal before the Bombing, it is not harmful to us, since we were exposed to space since birth, and our genetic code has been artificially enhanced to allow us greater resistance to radiation, also, we gave each of them doses of Prussian Blue.”

 

“What does it have to do with radiation?” asks the Orchid Station rep, Jake smiles.

 

“Nothing,” he says, “but we were already speaking of preventive measures, we gave them each an initial dose of 4g of Prussian Blue, with strict instructions to the older children that after each meal for the first couple of days they would all take another 500 mg capsule each to ensure they won’t be getting any heavy metal poisoning or be harmed by ingesting radioactive isotopes.”

 

Thelonious mind was reeling, was he finally facing a reason to execute Jake Griffin without consequences? Was it possible?

“That’s a waste of resources, Jake.” He sighed, making a show of rubbing the crease between his eyes worriedly. He was really getting into character, if he wanted Jake arrested right here and now, this had to be foolproof.

 

“Giving our only hope of survival a medicine we have in bulk, never used and under an order of the Chief Medical Officer of the Ark?”

 

“We have Prussian Blue in bulk?” asks one of the reps in wonder, they had nothing in bulk, for it was wasteful when there are no resources at all,

 

“Our entire food supply, is created on sterile lines, cleaned every few hours, not made from metal, we have no contaminants except the biological kind, as the entire Ark was built to sustain life in space, therefore, allow the minimal amount of contaminants to reach the people on board. All the stations that made up the Ark were supplied with Prussian Blue when launched, none of it was ever used. And the only way anyone could ingest radioactive isotopes on the Ark would be to chew on the Gravity Generator Core’s electrode couplings and swallow. As in, get into a restricted area, manage to open up the walls or floors in that room without any power tools and eat through the silicon casing. Which is really unlikely.” Jake’s words made the others think, and Thelonious to realize he was losing his edge.

 

“I gave the order to give the 100 those doses, it allows us a greater range of understanding the conditions on the ground, they won’t die of something we can easily treat here, giving us a better estimate of what we can survive, and weather landing is even an option.” Abby speaks calmly, giving the council the medical reason behind the decision to protect the 100 even further.

 

“But they aren’t communicating.” pressed one of the Agro Station reps.

 

“They don’t have to, we know they are all alive and well by the wristbands’ data.” said Jake, “I have to say, in their place, I wouldn’t have contacted us either.”

 

“You and Sinclair have been too sure of the 100 survival since the beginning,” said the Arrow Station representative. She was suspicious, which, in any other matter would be extremely bad for their plans, but right now, this was the best gift they could hope for, someone to extract information they  **don’t** want found.

 

“It’s nothing.” denied Jake, trying to look both innocent and as if he truly was protecting a tiny tidbit of information from his colleagues.

 

“What is it? Griffin, not telling us can result in a charge of treason.” reminds him one of Thelonious proteges.

 

“They will have help. At least we think so.”

 

“Jake!” calls Sinclair in something close to despair, or at least that what it looks like on the outside.

 

“We have sat images of the ground, taken over the last couple of years, ever since we knew something was wrong with the Ark.” he let that part slip from his lips absentmindedly, to make the think he haven’t been thinking about what to tell them all for weeks now.

 

“The ground is moving.”

 

“It’s what?” asks Marcus, his acting chops are at their greatest under pressure, of that Jake was now sure.

 

“There are signs of change on the ground. Man made changes.” 

 

“What?” This time it was Callie that rose to the challenge, Jake wondered if born in earlier times, would Marcus and Callie would have made great television actors.

 

“When we were looking for the best drop site for the 100,” well, he wasn’t about to tell them they were watching the ground for a couple of years by now… “we found a repeating pattern in one of the areas. A field that during some parts of the year would be filled with what appears to be grain, and others it would have these clumps of produce, bales, really.”

 

“You saw signs of life on the ground?” croaked one of the Flint Station representatives, another rep, Orchid Station’s, trembled in her seat, almost vibrating right out of it, from excitement.

 

“That’s hardly enough to tell if there's life on Earth!” Thelonious tried to intervene, not that it helped.

 

“It’s not all.” Now Jake was enjoying this a little too much, but after what Thelonious has been doing to all those innocent people on the Ark in the past few years, Jake really couldn’t feel too badly for doing this. “We did a thermal sweep on the ground. We found hotspots, likely from populated areas, with a lot of heat sources, small, but their proximity to each other could definitely be a sign of life and man made heat sources.”

 

“Not enough.” Thelonious Jaha was grasping at straws, and everyone in the council chamber knew this much.

 

Sinclair straightened in his chair, Callie lost her clueless expression and Marcus sighed deeply, his eyes closing for a moment, he was trying to gather his strength.

 

“What about a live feed to the ground, would that be proof enough for you, Chancellor?” Marcus’ tone was tired but no other emotio pushed through. All the council members watched on in wonder, as the man they were sure would do whatever Thelonious asked of him, no questions asked, raised his head and committed what could only be described as treason.

 

Abby stared at her husband, then at their old friend, with whom she had lost much contact with, despite him being married to her best friend, after a difference of opinions had caused them to fight and their stubbornness pulled them even further apart.

 

“Would that be enough?” pressed Marcus as he stood up from his chair, pulling the handcuffs attached to his belt and made his way to Thelonious. Jake and Sinclair rose from their seats as well, surrounding Thelonious as Marcus spoke the words that were sure to shock the remainder of the council members yet to be shocked by their earlier exchange.

 

“Thelonious Jaha, you are hereby accused of treason according to the Ark’s Federation penal code 13.2.1 The Chancellor of the Ark would act in the best interest of the population, no exceptions, should the Chancellor chose not to act on information that could save lives, with no apparent, logical reason, the Chancellor is to be removed from his position of power and charged with treason.”

 

Marcus cuffed Thelonious as the man struggled on.

 

“There is no 13 amendment on the Ark’s penal code!” struggled Thelonious. Jake shook his head sadly.

 

“There is, you should have looked more closely, Thelonious, since it has only to do with the Chancellor’s duties, it is attached to the 12th and has no other mentions in the literature, really, you should have known better.”

 

*** ***

 

They reached the city by midday, it was all they had imagined. Tall buildings made from steel and glass, concrete and bricks doting the scene. Asphalt roads and brick sidewalks, trees trimmed on the side of the broader roads, parks in between neighborhoods, lawns mowed and flowers blooming, unmutated, unchanged.

 

The spread out, in three groups, unevenly divided, looking for clues, they all agreed on a five blocks radius, they started in the edge of the city, suburban houses in neat rows, their walls undamaged, not a scratch on them, their color as vibrant as the day they were painted last. Cars in driveways, bikes leaning on garage doors, doormats free of dust or mud, windows clean. It was a truly scary sight.

 

They were all alone, in a city full of unseen ghosts.

 

Raven was always the first one to enter each house, looking around for undamaged electronics, by the third house, she stopped taking them, there was no need, they were all in top form, the next few hours they had to suffer through her rants over never needing to recreate something again, she sounded rather sad.

 

Clarke’s favorite thing about the entire setup was to see Lexa and her Nightbloods looking around them with awe over the simplest of things. Toys and books were what captured their attention the most, the Nightbloods touched every toy they found, trying to figure out it’s use before Raven, Clarke or Wells came over and showed them how to use a certain toy.

 

Lexa was enamoured by the vast collection of books. While all could read and were taught to read early on in their lives, the people of the clans rarely read for pleasure, as all books written since the Bombing were either historical accounts or for educational purposes, stories weaved from one’s imagination were usually presented in plays and songs, storytelling was also widely used. 

 

Sweeping through the suburban neighborhood, their group - composed by Lexa’s most loyal and the newly fallen  _ skaikru _ \- found themselves a little lost, and by sundown, they have settled in one of the larger houses, one that was able to house them all quite comfortably.

 

There was a short debate between them over using the house appliances, even opening the refrigerators, really, but Raven, who was truly too curious for her own good, had opened one as the rest were squabbling over said action to begin with. What they found stunned them all and made them more suspicious than they already were. Fully stocked and perfectly fresh produce, cheeses and meats. The pantries were opened next, also full to the brim. They would want for nothing, as long as they decided on using the suspiciously fresh ingredients.

 

Again, the decision was made for them. Apparently, a very hungry Raven and an exhausted Octavia made for quite the strike team when it came to food. Before any of them could object, or even simply voice their concerns, the duo were already opening cupboards and drawers, looking for pots and pan and coultry.

 

It could have ended in one of two ways, the one, very badly, with the lot of them being poisoned by inedible food, and the other, them all filling their bellies and having a good night’s sleep. Luckily for them alll, the latter was the correct guess in this matter. Although, according to Clarke and Wells, this could have still ended in a disaster, as Raven and Octavia never cooked before, at least, not in a modern kitchen. Charlotte joked they would have been alright anyway, as it seemed they have all found a way to cheat death. No one felt comfortable enough to mention that not one of them know how they made it back.

 

*** ***

 

“That’s one way to get to them…” Claudia was staring intensly at the screen before her, watching over the young women trying to cook for the first time in their admittedly short, life.

 

Chris, sitting right next to her, glancing at her own screen in between elegant sips of her Earl Grey tea, chuckled at her younger sister’s words.

 

“They’ll need the nutrients rather soon, it’s better to allow them to eat well now for a few days and give them a booster in a few weeks rather than giving them it all in one does, which can cause problems with absorbing all the nutrients themselves.”

 

“We are really close, aren’t we?” asked Claudia as she leaned back in her seat, looking at her older sister who was once again sipping away her tea.

 

“It’s about time.” smirked Chris, but Claudia saw beyond that.

 

“Are you scared?” asked Claudia, Chris was about to act as if none of this bothered her, but looking at her sister, she decided it would be better if she were truthful.

 

“It’s human lives, C.” Claudia nodded but said nothing, knowing her sister wasn’t done talking. “They all matter. People on the media tell us that all lives matter, but whenever someone brings the X-2053, the entire conversation is shut down, all under the claim they are no longer human, not after what they have been through.”

 

“But they are, human, I mean.” Chris nods sadly.

 

“They are, there’s no disputing that, but soon people would be able to forget about it all, and never speak of this slight on human rights again.”

 

“How come they are terminating? DIdn’t they pay billions each year for the past century to keep this  **thing** going?”

 

“They don’t have much use for any results that are to follow, the entire thing was designed to run it’s course by year 100. The fact so many had survived proves something they were never set to prove.”

 

“What’s that?”

 

“What can mankind survive with no preparations to the impending doom in their lives, This proves everyone it’s entirely possible to flourish once again as a regressed society, people don’t want to believe we are still ruled by our base emotions, not even when we are at our best, people want to believe there is something wrong with others so they wouldn’t have to face their own fears.”

 

“But to go this far?”

 

“You are underestimating man’s talent for torture.”

 

“Yeah, what a talent.” snorted Claudia. “Are we like that too?”

 

“I don’t know, maybe… What are you afraid of, C?”

 

“I don’t know…” whispers Claudia to her sister, eyes tearing up, but the tears never made their way out.

 

“Me neither, C… Me neither…”

 

*** ***

 

Clarke and Lexa were shaken awake right before dawn by Raven who led them quietly to the floor below them, and then right out the door.

 

The false light of predawn was cool and fresh, a little bite to it, but nothing they couldn’t handle in their lighter garment which they have been wearing for bed.

 

“I have a radio.” Raven whispered excitedly. Clarke rolled her eyes.

 

“We know.” she said as she tried to understand why Raven was so excited.

 

“No! I mean I have a satellite phone that has a radio frequency! We can contact the Ark!”

 

“That is a good thing?” asked Lexa wearly.

 

“Yeah! We can connect with the Ark’s main communication node and make a link to our HQ! Clarke!” Raven practically bounced in place.

 

“We have a video camera! We can VIDCON with the rest!”

 

Clarke was smiling to herself as well. “Will it be secure?” she asks though she’s a 100 percent sure Raven wouldn’t be babbling about an unsecure connection with the rest of their little rebellion.

 

“When can we do it?” asks Wells who’ve been slow to wake when Raven made her rounds and woke all the  _ skaikru _ , Lexa and Lincoln.

 

“Yeah, Reyes, when can we?” mocked John, who was never a morning person.

 

“Now?” shrugged Raven and everyone sighed around her, they should have really predicted that Raven wouldn’t wake them unless she had something concrete.

 

“Do it.” ordered Clarke, Raven nodded and began to assemble the array of electronic components she had brought with her, right there in the sun’s rising light. Just as the sun roe high enough in the sky to be actually seen, the array was connected and they were waiting for Raven’s program to load.

 

Seconds later, not one eye in that corner of that street in that ghost filled city was dry. Smiles and tears mixed as the screen before them showed a picture of two men they haven’t seen in days.

 

“This is Raven Reyes from the ground, do you copy?” sobbed Raven, but she wasn’t alone. On the other side of the connection, two grown men let their tears wash their tired faces.

 

“We hear you Raven,” smiles the shorter man. “Hope you aren’t getting into any troubles this time around.” he quipped. “We are on our way to you!”

 

“Don’t worry Marcus.” Kane looked at Lexa with a warm smile and tears that ran down his cheeks in even greater rivers of salty liquid. “We are keeping them all safe and out of troubles.”

 

“ _ mochof, heda. _ ”

 

There’s a nod exchanged between Clarke and Kane, then Raven and Sinclair, and the connection goes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mochof, heda. - Thank you, Commander


	20. Chapter Twenty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hei kru!  
> I know... I know... Late this week as well... Sorry?  
> It's been a really busy week for me, despite the fact it was actually a holiday, and I was home from work, but... Well... Life happened.  
> So November is upon us, fast approaching at the very least, and so is NaNoWriMo, to those who are unfamiliar with the program, I suggest you check it out on nanowrimo.org soon!  
> So, this year, like any other year since I was 13 years old, I'm participating! Yay! This time, I want to start something from scratch, so... Updates in November may, well, not be there... I will use the next couple of weeks to write as much as I can, and release chapter by chapter during November, but I can promise nothing.   
> Would you prefer shorter chapters and one each week or regular length chapters when I can get them out?  
> And... I might have done something bad...  
> Enjoy!

As the sun made it’s way higher in the sky, those rudely woken by Raven before dawn, made their way back into the house, some making their way back to bed, others to the bathrooms and kitchen, to start their day.

 

Knowing that she would have to wake up sooner rather than later anyway, and that to go back to sleep now means going to sleep alone, Clarke made her way to the bathroom attached to the bedroom she and Lexa used. After making a quick work of her morning routine, she was about to make her way into the shower when the door opened and Lexa stepped in. She looked fresher than she did when they met up with the rest downstairs so Clarke assumed she used another bathroom while Clarke herself used theirs. Her suspicions were confirmed when Lexa half smiled her way and simply uttered her mentor’s name as an answer.

 

“ _ onya _ ” 

 

Clarke nodded and continued undressing, Lexa’s eyes following her every movement. When she was down to her undergarments, instead of looking away or leaving the bathroom altogether, Lexa took off her own clothes and raised her eyebrow playfully when Clarke looked at her questioningly.

 

“Would you mind if I joined you?” she asked and Clarke had to roll her eyes. She was sure Lexa could have simply asked her earlier to join her without playing games, but then again, Lexa adored teasing Clarke at every given opportunity.

 

Stepping into the shower and turning the handle closer to the little red dot that was a universal sign of hot water, Clarke sighed and shuffled further into the shower, her head slipping under the still warming water. Lexa was still outside, waiting for an answer. For all her teasing, Lexa would never make an unwanted advance at Clarke. Shivering from both the cold water and something else entirely, Clarke looked at Lexa and nodded, reaching out with her left hand to help Lexa into the shower. Gracefully, Lexa slipped into the shower, stepping closer to Clarke than necessary and pushing the blonde to the shower glass wall.

 

Now, both wet and shivering, they couldn’t deny it had nothing to do with the now warm, even hot, water.

Clarke pushed herself off the glass and right into Lexa’s tight, slippery embrace.

“Morning” she murmured into the brunette's ear. Lexa’s lips stretched into a lazy grin as she nuzzled her nose into Clarke’s neck, eyes closed and arms tight around her love, Lexa felt calmer and safer than she had in years.

 

“Morning,  _ meizen _ ” she whispered, her fingers running up and down Clarke’s spin, making the already shivering blonde tremble. Clarke’s lips stretched into a smile of her own.

 

They just stood there for a few moments, under the warm spray, taking whatever time they could have on their own. Foreheads pressed together, eyes locked in a soft stare, no words were needed, being there together, was more than enough to the two long lost lovers.

 

As nice as their moment in the shower was, the two had to be presentable all too soon for their taste, a soft kiss that might have gotten a little too heated, and they took the rest of their time in that bathroom to actually wash, disappointing as it was for them.

 

Clean and appropriately dressed the two young leaders packed up their things and made their way downstairs, to join the others in the kitchen, helping prepare food in this unfamiliar, modern kitchen.

 

It was clear, not a few minutes into the group’s attempt to make breakfast that while the  _ skaikru _ members with them were supposed to know much more about modern way of life than the clansmen, this fact did not translate into them being better cooks, and while Lincoln and Lexa’ and even Roan and Anya themselves were truly unfamiliar with the technology at hand, the turned out to be quite successful cooks after a short explanation from Raven on how to work the kitchen, another surprising find was that John Murphy himself, was quite the cook, something even he was unaware of, Clarke and Raven showed quite the aptitude themselves, Wells and Octavia, on the other hand, were kept well and far away from the food after the first couple of burnt - well, whatever it was, it wasn’t recognizable - that weren’t even supposed to be cooked. Charlotte, of course, as Wells’ newly appointed surrogate younger sister, took it upon herself to tease the poor boy to the point Clarke was sure he was overheating from a barely detectable blush, but given the fact his blush was unnoticeable at best any given day, Clarke would later say it was quite the accomplishment.

 

With the rest of their group finally awake, and food filling their bellies, the largest of the three groups gathered their belongings and continued on in the journey to explore the ghost city spread around them, sprawling and completely empty.

 

Street after street, their progression slow and their hearts racing, their eyes searching and their minds reeling, there was something different, the air? The light? They couldn’t say, and it made them all the more suspicious.

By midday they made their way to the denser downtown area, shops and other businesses, left orphaned, like beautifully preserved works of art.

 

The air smelt like flowers and freshly baked goods, like spices and roasted meat, sharp scents came from one shop, some sweet, some fresh, some flowery and some fruity, all sharp and with a sharp, tangy undertone that made them all cringe.

They recognized it for what it was, but it was so different from the pleasantly scented oils they used they gave that part of the street a wide berth, trying to avoid the unfamiliar sensation from whatever that was inside the tiny veils in the display.

 

Their horses were beginning to get used to the paved roads, making their journey much easier now that they weren’t trying to appease the regal beast on which they rode. Deeper and deeper into the city, Raven stopped being excited with every piece of technology she encountered, instead, she looked around her in suspicion, electricity needed a source, and here was an entire city, running as if not a day passed since it was last used, no power source in sight.

 

They came to a full stop that afternoon, the sun lowering and the air chilling from the barely bearable heat to a warm breeze that fluffed their hair and gave them a refreshing jolt to their tired bodies. They stopped in front of a group of ancient looking buildings, surrounded by wide lawns and dotted with important looking stone and bronze statues.

 

It looked different, the buildings much older than the rest of the modern looking surrounding buildings which were some ways away by now, They weren’t quite inside the city’s downtown area, but on it’s border, it looked quaint, old, calm. Important.

 

“Where are we?” Charlotte broke the silence they were maintaining for some time, feeling unable to speak their minds, fearing to be overheard in the absolute silence of the city.

 

“I’ve no idea.” murmured Nathan as he calmly turns his horse in place, looking around them for anything that might clue him in. Octavia is uneasily fidgeting on the top of her steed, Indra looking over her, unimpressed.

 

John and Clarke look around curiously and drift away from the group, not too far as not to be in seeing distance, but far enough to see more than what they already have. Wells, Monty and Raven stood still, their faces pale as they took in their surroundings.

 

“You think?” asked Wells as he turned to Monty, almost falling off his horse in his haste.

 

“Do you?” retorted Monty, and Raven was the one to answer this time.

 

“It is. There was a sign a couple of miles back.”

 

“And you didn’t say anything?!” cried Monty.

 

“You know how to read, don’t you?” sassed Raven, “didn’t think I needed to read every sign for all of you!”

 

“Raven!” cried Monty, he was about to say something else but was stopped by Lexa who rode up to the three when she noticed they were squabbling over something that seemed urgent.

 

“What is going on?” she asks as she settles right in front of the three teenagers.

 

“We know where we are.” said Monty, glaring at Raven playfully.

 

“I saw a sign, it’s not my fault you didn’t!” Raven continued to defend herself and Lexa tried very hard not to roll her eyes of snap at the two to quit acting like children.

 

“Please,  _ monti kom skaikru _ , enlighten me, where are we?” she asked, trying her hardest to sound pleasant, but if Raven’s amused smile is anything to go by, she did worse than she hoped for. Disappointed she seemed to lose the ability to hide her feelings from Clarke’s - her - people. 

 

“Harvard University.” answered Raven as she looked around curiously, then she stopped, remembering that Lexa might not know what she’s on about.

 

“University is a-”

 

“I know what a university is,  _ reivon kom skaikru _ , we might not have them anymore, but we do read books, those that are written now, and those which have been salvaged after the Great Burning.”

 

“So you know Harvard University?” asked Monty to clarify. Wells looked on at them in interest. He realized there was more to the Grounders than what he thought when Clarke had led them to Polis, a thriving city, full of life and ingenuity, but to realize that not only could they read, but they had done something to preserve the way of life from before the bombs was both a calming and unnerving factor in his mind.

 

“I have read about it. My great-grandmother had attended the University, She would have liked seeing it again, I’m sure.” professed Lexa and the others stared at her in surprise.

 

“You have a family?”

 

“You’re great grandmother lived before the bombs?”

 

“You’ve read about it?”

 

The three spoke up all together, which made it hard for Lexa to hear them, but Clarke who’s realized something was going on between the four, rode up to them and settled as close to Lexa as her horse allowed, which was rather close, at least, close enough to be able to reach out and touch her arm.

 

“What’s going on?” she asked Lexa, who, out of the four, was the only one who’ve noticed she was near. The other three jumped slightly in their saddles, surprised.

 

“Your… friends… seem surprised to learn that my great grandmother attended Harvard University, or apparently, that I have family at all.”

 

“Who…” Clarke looked at the three for a clue to who might come up with the brilliant idea that Lexa had no family, when she noticed something she had rarely seen before, a slight flush to Raven's cheeks and ears, she was avoiding her eyes. Raven.

 

“Yes, well, most living humans have or had a family…” smirked Clarke, teasing Raven on purpose.

 

“Wait, your great grandmother attended Harvard?” asked Clarke and Lexa nodded.

 

“ _ ai nomon tel ai op chit em nomon tel em op. bekka set raun hir. _ ”

 

“ _ bekka? bekka pramheda? _ ” asked Clarke, a look of understanding washes over her face as what Lexa tells her settles in.

 

“You are descendant of the First Commander.” Lexa nods again and grins at Clarke.

 

“ _ taitos _ was sure I would dishonor my family’s history and lose the Conclave, he would often tell me to stop trying, that I wasn’t good enough. He was…-”

 

“Wrong. He was wrong, Lexa, you turned out to be the greatest Commander since  _ bekka pramheda _ .”

 

“ _ sha.  _ He was wrong.” agrees Lexa with a smile.

 

Another rode up to them, his steed's hooves hitting the asphalt heavily.

 

“We should make camp for the night,  _ heda, _ it’s going to be dark soon.” Roan softly reminded them they have been riding for hours now, never stopping for rest.

 

“Than we will. Let the others know, this is a good a place as any.” Roan nodded at Lexa’s orders and rode on to the others, telling them the Commander’s orders.

 

The four, joined by John quickly returned to the rest of the group, helping build the camp and prepare their dinner, making sure everyone were settled for the night.

 

*** ***

 

Lexa and Clarke settled in their tent one of the last people left awake, after ensuring the Nightbloods all slept soundly and had warriors guarding their tent from all directions, after staying to speak with the older members of the group about what they have seen so far, and helping the warriors clean the area in which they’ve eaten their dinner.

 

They tried to fall asleep for a long time, but something was bothering the two of them, and it was too much. Soundlessly, conversing with their eyes in the near absolute darkness, Lexa reached for her swords and dagger, attaching them in place, Clarke herself reached for her own sword, given to her by Lexa when they left Polis. They sneaked away from their tent, nodding at the warriors guarding the parameter of their camp and made their way down the rather well lit street, led by their hearts.

 

They walked together in silence for a few minutes, enjoying each others company, when they reached a building, it was a rather modern one, surrounded by buildings centuries older than him, but it was the only one they could see was lit, it’s front doors cracked open. Nodding at each other, they pulled out their weapons and made their way inside.

 

It was just like any other building they have checked before, silent, devoid of life.

 

At the end of the first floor’s hall, one room was cracked open, a strange beeping sound coming from it, like a heartbeat, well, like two actually, two heartbeats, beating as one, matching their rhythm to what Lexa was sure their own was. They looked at one another one last time, and silently stepped into the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meizen - beautiful  
> ai nomon tel ai op chit em nomon tel em op. bekka set raun hir. - My mother told me what her mother told her. Becca studied here.  
> bekka? bekka pramheda? - Becca? Becca The First Commander?


	21. Chapter Twenty One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this was one hell of a week for me!  
> Thank you all for your kind comments. I know that some of this story is confusing to many, but there is a reason behind all this. I promise.  
> Have a great weekend!

It was the middle of the night, yet Roan woke to the sound of small feet pounding the asphalt in short burst, coming and going, apparently, the young Nightbloods were looking for something frantically. It took him a second to realize the implications. The Nightbloods rarely did anything frantically, they were the image of coolness, just like their Commander.

 

Bursting out from his tent, Roan noticed that it wasn’t only the Nightbloods, but the  _ skaikru _ child as well, Charlotte, they were all running around camp, disorganized, looking inside tents and waking others up, in silence, Roan grabbed one of the running children by the back of their shirt, looking down at the captured child, Roan noticed his own son looking up at him, his blue eyes wide and his blonde hair tousled in every direction, he was breathing rapidly and his fair skin was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. He was… scared.

 

“ _ Chit yu dula yongon? _ ”

 

“ _ heda en wanheda gon we! _ ” exclaimed Aden and the rest of the children stopped in their tracks when they noticed they were no longer the only ones awake.

 

“I have no idea what he said,” heaved Charlotte, “but Clarke and the Commander are gone, and we need help finding them!”

 

“How did you find them to be gone, child?” asks Roan, releasing his hold on Aden.

 

“I woke up to drink some water, and they were gone!” she said, her voice trembling.

 

“When was it?” asks Roan, trying to get the full picture.

 

“20 minutes ago?” said Charlotte hesitantly.

 

“And you woke the  _ natblida _ up?”

 

Charlotte, somehow instinctively recognizing Roan spoke about the other children, nodded. Roan smiles softly at her. “You did well.” he tells her, the Nightbloods are usually well versed in the art of locating their missing Commander, it was as if they had a way of finding her that no one else had.

 

“None of you have any idea where they are?” asks Roan.

 

Aden and Ren are quick to shake their heads and Charlotte is tearing up, feeling unsafe now that Clarke is no longer around.

 

Looking at the skies above them, dark and almost starless, almost at the cusp of dawn, Roan realizes he had retired before many others, having been on the road for a few days now, Clarke and Lexa were still awake and present when he had gone to sleep.

 

Making up his mind, Roan directed the children to help him wake everyone in the camp up, so they could search for the missing leaders.

The  _ skaikru _ members of the group were not happy with the second pre dawn wake up call to say the least. John and Raven, in an amazing show of camaraderie grumbled as the washed up quickly and continued to do so, annoying everyone around, as they packed up their tents and helped pack everything on the horses. Another clue was gathered as they packed up their camp and prepared the horses, Clarke and Lexa’s horses were both accounted for, grazing calmly on the green piece of land they were left in when they stopped to make camp.

 

When the camp was packed up, and they all realized Clarke and Lexa were without their horses, it was agreed they would not split and would cover all the surrounding areas together, hoping that the two, not at all out of character for the both of them, disappeared on their own terms, and had fully intended to return before they had been found missing, something that might had worked, hadn’t Charlotte woke up in the middle of the night.

 

*** ***

 

Weapons out, Clarke and Lexa made their way into the room carefully, the twin heartbeats drumming in their ears softly, a calming rhythm that almost lulled them into believing they were safe.

The room was arranged as a regular classroom, or at least like one Clarke had seen in old movies. It was larger than she believed it would be, above them was a balcony, that when the two moved further into the room they had noticed was also lined with long rows of desks and chairs, just like the main floor of the classroom. In the front, a large desk dominated a low stage, and where there should have been a board were screens. Not a screen that would have been of use to a teacher, but hundreds of screens, that covered the entire wall, floor to ceiling, side to side, running over to the side walls as well, in each dozens of colored tiles, thrumming in their own rhythm.

 

As they finally made it to the front of the classroom, two screens right in their eye levels, turned black, then, they rebooted and on each was a picture, a head-shot, one of Clarke, the other of Lexa. They were candid, both recent, taken without their knowledge or consent.

A heart rate monitor on the right of each picture showed how in sync their hearts were, underneath it, a few statistics that meant nothing to either of them, their birth dates, under that, a nine letters long number, like a serial code on a product, but not exactly, an ID number, realizes Clarke as she lets her eyes sweep around her for the first time since they entered the classroom. They were alone.

 

“ _ leksa? _ ” Clarke reached for her lover’s arm, tugging on the sleeve of her shirt, nodding with her head towards the desk in the front when Lexa turns to look at her.

 

“ _ chit? _ ” whispered Lexa, still unsure of their safety.

 

“The case,  _ leksa _ , it has your sign on it.” Lexa turns to look at the case on the desk, and sure enough, on the surface of the grainy metal case, a smooth line etched the Infinity sign that symbolized the reign of the Commander.

 

With caution, the two stepped closer to the case, it had a numerical code lock on it, but the numbers were already set and the lock disengaged, Clarke carefully lifts the top, resting it on the table, the case’s contents open for them both to see.

 

The case’s interior was set with a sponge filling, faded black was it’s color. It had nine gauges, in varying sizes. The first thing Clarke notices, was the injection gun, an air pressure gage at the side facing them, the rest pressed into the sponge filling of the case. Lexa’s eyes, on the other hand, were turned towards the seven veils sitting in a row, Two were empty, not a trace of what was in them, but the other five were filled with an oily black liquid that when she lifted it from the case to see it more closely, the liquid sluggishly moved in it’s container. It looked like oil, like the kind that is mined on one of the  _ floudonkru _ riggs, but it wasn’t. Lexa recognized it for what it truly was.

 

“ _ shadjus? _ ” 

 

“Nightblood?” apparently, so did Clarke. They look at each other in wonder, then returned to the rest of the case’s contents.

 

Next to the injection gun sat a small, thin tin box, it was familiar to them both, a box just like this one held the Flame between one Commander’s death to the Ascension of another. On that box, a few pages, yellow and crisp with age, but otherwise undamaged, were folded in two. Their edges were uneven, torn off a notebook of some kind, and Lexa recognized the size and look, they came from a notebook similar in size and make to the handwritten book Titus carries around.

 

Lexa took the papers from the case, carefully unfolded them, one slipped, falling to the floor in a gentle flutter. It was the last page of the bunch, Clarke quickly fell to her knees and picked it up, looking at the written words on the page as she rose, the very last line caught her eye, and in wonder, she offered Lexa the page, the both of them staring at the last two words in what was a few pages long letter.

 

_ Heda Bekka _

 

*** ***

 

Working the night shift at the Brownstone after a full day of labs and lectures was not one of Claudia’s ideas of fun. Exhausted, the redhead made her way up the stairs to one of the guestrooms on the second floor, taking a warm shower as the coffee brewed was the best she could do before her shift starts.

 

Washing the grime of the day, Claudia wonders if her sister would be willing to switch with her, or the very least, come over and keep her company. Rolling her eyes as she lathered her hair with a shampoo she was sure, was left there by either Matthew or Lauren, more likely by Matthew, since Lauren had been deployed for the last six months. It didn’t matter, they both boasted a head full of golden locks, it’s silky texture and natural highlights giving them an angelic vibe, and they both put too much effort in protecting their hair, in the olden days, people would have said about Matthew that his obsession with his hair was ‘so gay’, Claudia never really understood why. He was gay, and it was considered a ‘gay’ thing for men to do, but was alright with women, but then again, when a gay woman did the same, people were surprised? Lauren was gay also, she gave her hair a fair amount of attention as well…

 

Realizing she had been over thinking her sister’s wife’s hair care regimen for a little too long, which was any moment more then never.

 

Dressed in sweats and a huge coffee mug in hand, the redhead settled in her seat for the night, on the first floor’s surveillance room, staring ahead, screen filled with pictures of lush hills and sprawling forest all around her. A couple of screens showed the interior of a mountain side bunker, Claudia was aware that the locals called it Mount Weather, or  _ maun-de _ as the clans called it. Another set of screens, showed the metal interior of twelve sections that together, made up one space station. The Ark.

 

It was a little unfair, in her mind, that the people of the Ark worked with a daily schedule that was determined by their station’s internal clock, and not one that worked with the rise and setting of the sun, which would have been very nice for Claudia and her fellow student overwatchers.

 

Helena, Claudia’s mother, not once raised the issue that her daughter’s gaming addiction - which Claudia always denied to be an actual addiction and claimed it was her mother’s exaggeration - might have something to do with the fact Claudia could hardly ever keep awake during her overnight shifts. Claudia claimed she should get paid more than what she was given, which was absolutely nothing, to that Helena’s only response was to ask what would she need the money for, given that Claudia had her own trust fund, filled with more than a couple million pounds, and a company to her name, which she and Felicity had created together. The company earned them more than enough, that even without the trust fund, Claudia would most certainly not need the money.

 

It was late at night, when Claudia heard the front door unlocking and the shuffling footsteps that followed.

 

“Who is it?” she called, tired and bored out of her mind.

 

“It’s me!” called a youthful voice, a teenager showed in the open doorway, her grin infectious and her energy made Claudia dizzy.

 

“Hey Charlie” It was Charlotte, Ethan’s younger sister.

 

“Hey!” she slipped into the room and took the seat next to Claudia, “I hope you don’t mind, Ethan’s working on his project tonight, so I’m all alone in the apartment, thought that I might as well keep whoever it is that on the night shift company.”

 

“Of course not! It’s great to have you here” smiled Claudia. Charlie was great company, she was funny, down to earth and rather mature for her age, which made her the perfect lighthearted companion to the weighted down college students that were stationed in the Brownstone each night.

 

They talked for a few more hours, when a screen flashed in alarm. It was one of the city scapes. Two figures separated from their camp in the middle of the urban centre, looking almost identical to the one Claudia had traversed earlier, to get to the Brownstone.

 

Claudia typed in the counter alarm code in the command line and enlarged the video feed. It was the Commander and Clarke Griffin, walking in the direction of the last stronghold, exactly where they needed them.

 

Claudia patted Charlotte’s arm frantically, when the teen finally looked over from her phone, she understood why.

 

“Call everyone in, they will want to to see this!” Charlotte and Claudia spend the next five minutes placing calls to everyone in the area. Half an hour later, everyone available are gathered in the surveillance room, looking at the very screen Claudia had a few minutes before.

 

The two figures on the screen got closer and closer, Claudia set a live feed with their team in the sky. Lauren, Timothy, his wife Kaitlin and his sister, Addison, were all looking at the same feed, waiting.

 

Soon, both locations fill with the sound of twin heartbeats, loud and strong. The two women on the screen are by the teacher’s desk.

 

The heartbeats are like bass drums, thundering in their ears.

 

The girls on the screen open the metal case.

 

There is not an eye left dry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think most of the Trig in this chapter could be understood from context but here goes...
> 
> Chit yu dula yongon? - What are you doing kid?  
> heda en wanheda gon we! - The commander and the commander of death are gone!  
> natblida - Nightbloods  
> Chit? - What?  
> Floudonkru - Boats Clan  
> Shadjus? - Black blood/Nightblood  
> Heda Bekka - Commander Becca  
> Maun-de - The Mountain


	22. Chapter Twenty Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How's it going, my lovely readers?  
> Ready for Halloween? What are you dressing up as, if you are celebrating at all? (I personally don't live in a country where we celebrate Halloween, but we have a similar holiday in March...)  
> So NaNoWriMo is starting it's run this Tuesday... wish me luck, I'll need it!  
> Have a great week you guys! This is my treat for you all!

This may be my last chance to write my thoughts down, my time is close, my hands shake and my eyes tire quickly, I’ve delayed all that I could, but even I cannot stall death indefinitely. This are the words of a dying woman, if I’m even still that, a woman.

I can only hope, that when someone finds this letter, it’s not too late, I may be long gone by now, but at the very least, I get the satisfaction of knowing I’ve tried to move the wheel forward, that time would not sweep by and take us all with it.

 

What I know, cannot be told to those around me, not now. It’s too late for us, those of us who still remember the life before, there isn’t enough proof, not now, there will be, someday soon, but it would be too late for us.

 

I’ve all always been too focused on what humanity could someday become, of what we can achieve, together, rather than what people are capable of right now. And I paid for it dearly, we all have.

 

It started in my late teens. I studied Medicine in Cambridge University, graduated first in my class. An M.D. and a P.h.D. in Biomedical Engineering. The world was at the tips of my fingers. My family wanted for nothing, being born into an old aristocratic English family worked well for me. After leaving the surgical residency I was attempting to complete at my father’s request, I realised I had no wish to practice medicine, not for the sake of healing. No, I wanted to do something more, I wanted to create something better, and I wasn’t the only one.

 

I received an offer from an old friend from Cambridge, Chris, who remembered I was always talking about cybernetics and other ways of human enhancements, he reached out, offering a grant and a professor’s position in Harvard University, I accepted, within the year we were already deep into the development of a program to help us calculate human needs and provide solutions.

 

I was 25 when what Chris and I started as a friendship and a business partnership became more, I gave birth to our son, Adam, right before we managed to find our way into the human mind. We created an interface, A.L.I.E. stood for Artificial Life Imitating Entity. A VI that gave us a window into the human mind, we filed the patent with the US Government, this is where it begun.

 

At first it was the radical solutions ALIE would give us, then, the government sanctioned testing that was preformed by what I still believe to be CIA scientist, we were suddenly always monitored, a danger to national security, and me being a British citizen didn’t exactly help. I sent Adam to my parents, it was too much, and I couldn’t give my boy the life he deserved, and even if I left it all behind, they would have never left me alone.

 

ALIE was getting more radical as the months gone by, and we had to take the research elsewhere, we took it up to space, well, I did. Chris stayed behind, to shut down ALIE, who we could no longer trust, and to be with our son, while I and a small, select number of scientist under my command, went on to research another solution, where governments couldn’t touch us.

 

Something went wrong during the launch, Polaris lurched and we all lost consciousness, it shouldn’t have happened. When we all woke up, we were already in orbit around Earth. I contacted Chris as soon as I could, making sure they knew I was fine, that I was still alive, the rest of my crew did the same, nothing was out of order.

 

We worked for months on my newest idea, and since we had no subjects, I volunteered to dose myself with whatever invention I came up with. It was hard, but I was sure it would all be worth it. We were up there for 11 months when it all went to hell. Chris contacted me in a rush, blabbering about how ALIE had the launch codes to the world’s Nuclear weapons, but it made no sense, we had an override code to whenever ALIE would try to take an actual real world action, outside of our simulations, ALIE was a VI, an intelligence indeed, but we were still the one with the ultimate control. Before I could bring that up, the line disconnected and the bombs were launched. The end of the world was here, and all I could think about was the fact I was missing something, that something wasn’t right. I wasn’t thinking of my lover, I wasn’t thinking of my son, I was thinking about how it all didn’t make any sense. Years later, a dear friend told me it wasn’t my fault and that I was in shock, but it wasn’t that simple. It still isn’t.

 

The next couple of years consisted of me working on the bioimplant I designed to replace ALIE and the rest of my crew, who all heard Chris’ warnings, breathed down my neck disapprovingly. They didn’t want that happening again, but there wasn’t anything else for me to lose, so I pushed on, to the point where it was either my project or my life, our lives.

Something still didn’t sit right with me, so I took the third, unoffered choice, I took a pod and dropped to the ground, my inventions with me.

 

The world I once knew was in shambles, but as I suspected, there were survivors. I was greeted by a team of twelve, sent to recover my pod, cannibalize it for parts, for supplies. When I stepped out and removed my protective gear, they were stunned, for them, the air was still toxic, but my creations protected me. I was alive, on Earth, and the world was in ruins.

 

From there it was all about ensuring everyone's survival. My first order of business was to create a solution that would speed people’s resistance to the radiation, it took many tries, and many fell before I was able to do something, but in the end, I found a simple solution, my people were safe, for now… Something still bothered me.

 

We created a new community, working together to create a safe place for us all. We called it Polis, after the space station I came from. I know that none have survived me, as I descended, I saw the newly constructed Ark blowing my station out of the sky.

 

As the years went on, and I realized we were running low on supplies, at least the ones needed for scientific research, I created a new serum, one that was a derivative from the one I injected into my own veins, one that would ensure I would have heirs, and that my newest construct, the one I now knew to be exactly what I intended it to be, would not be forgotten, unusable. I injected the serum into the group of twelve that came to greet me when I landed, it might not have been their intention to befriend me, but as years went by, they proved themselves to be loyal allies and good friends. Injecting both them and their partners, I hoped I would one day soon, have a potential heir. The twelve themselves will never be my heirs, I trusted them, but there was no denying the fact the people now needed a leader that could see beyond what was, and try to make something lasting and good with what is.

 

It took quite a few years before I settled into this life, to realize I’m never going back home, I met a man who reminded me of Chris, I had another child, Celeste, named in remembrance of the people I have lost when I made the decision to return to Earth, no matter the cost.

 

It’s been a few years now, that my people have been running out of resources and fighting each other for survival, we had to spread out throughout the land. We are now covering the majority of the east coast and into the midwest, many have gone up north towards what used to be Canada. My old friends headed the new settlements, which are now much more peaceful when we don’t have to fight over resources.

 

The people who’ve chosen to stay here, in my city and it’s surrounding areas, which are now full of growing sapling of what I’m sure would someday become lush forests, have been named the Woods Clan, our friends to the north are the Ice Nation, after the sub-zero temperatures they have to endure in the winter months. Some of our people have settled into the ruins of Philadelphia, they aren’t as many of them as there are others, but they are strong and knowledgeable, they will do well for themselves, I’m sure.

 

As our people furthered north and west, we encountered another settlement of survivors, at first the meeting was a happy surprise, as both parties were sure they were completely alone, the last of their kind, but quickly things went south.

My people, for all my help, were already capable of surviving the radiation on their own, I merely helped them get stronger, so their bodies could endure longer, but the people inside that mountain, they were completely dependent on their shelter, the radiation too strong for them to get out of it, and the way they found this out was devastating, my people told me how they had watched so many blister and perish right before their eyes, there was nothing they could do.

 

It’s been a few years since, some of the people who’ve tried to approach the mountain again have disappeared or perished in a cloud of acid, we have declared the area as enemy land and actively discourage people from crossing over to the area, we’ve redirected a river around the acid cloud’s perimeter, to ensure the line is clear, but people still disappear from time to time, I can only imagine what the people in the mountain want from my own people.

 

The mountain has caused me to look for an heir, realizing how delicate our lives were once again. I found a young man, born after the bombs fell, a curious boy, strong in his mind as well as his body, a scout, born in Polis, but moved with his parents to the north, Ice Nation, I don’t have time to wait for a child with the right blood to be born, Zachery would have to do, and I’m sure he will do well.

 

Our people had to evolve since the mountain encounter, our scouts begun to use a code language, they have given me a new title, in that language, which is quite ingenious in my opinion, both the language and the title, it made me smile, and not many things make me smile these days, Heda Becca, I like it.

 

Apart from the dangers this new world has forced upon us, things still don’t feel quite right, I worry, therefore I plan forward, this is my insurance policy.

In the case you will find seven veils, two empty, five filled with a black liquid, a small tin box and an injection gun. I’m assuming that the injection gun may be a rare and expensive commodity by the time you find it, but please, this is important, make sure this entire case makes it’s way to the hands of your Commander, your Heda, the following instructions are for them.

 

*** ***

 

Dear Commander,

 

I hope it’s not too late, I’m not sure how much time we have been given, how much you have left, once you follow my instructions, there will be much you learn that will be important to the survival of our people.

 

Pick someone you trust, preferably, not your flame keeper as you will need them for the following steps, but if you must, it can still be done.

 

The veils are filled with the Nightblood serum I designed to interact with what you call The Flame. The Flame comes in two parts, but only one has been in use until now, the second was merely an insurance policy, and I never imagined I would have use for it. 

You, on the other hand, will.

 

Inject the serum directly into the vein. If you can safely access the jugular vein, do so, it will spread quicker. You will need all the remaining veils, like all biological compounds, its viability will be compromised the longer it sits. Wait a few minutes, to be safe, while the blood fuses with the serum, then, you know what to do.

 

Insert the Flame in the back of the host’s neck, it will carry the same activation phrase.

 

The Flames work together, they are not clones, but two pieces of the same puzzle, they will interact with one another, no matter the distance, I’m afraid your privacy will be compromised, but this is the price one must pay for the safety of our people.

 

My best wishes to you, commanders. Good luck, you will need it.

 

Yours in good faith,

Dr Rebecca Walsh

_ Heda Becca _


	23. Chapter Twenty Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it has been a couple of weeks... The world has managed to crumble...  
> Dear Americans among us, I am so sorry, sorry about the trust you must have lost in many, and I hope that Trump will not be as bad as we imagine him to be. When he was chosen, I joked that here in Israel we can finally say our political situation is better than the USA's. Well, a couple of hours later, the news run a story about how Benjamin Netanyaho, our prime minister is the only leader in the world that expressed his support in Trump before the end of the elections. I screamed.  
> The next day the government has began to take steps to undo whatever effort Obama has made for peace.  
> So when you think about all the bad Trump could do, know this, my government is already throwing all it's citizen's under the bus, you guys still have a couple of months before Trump can ruin your live.  
> On that note, take care and stay strong together.  
> All my love, from Israel.

Marcus and Jake watched on from the screens mounted in the control room as Thelonious paced back and forth in his tiny cell. 

 

“Should we really be watching that?” Asked Callie as she stepped through the sliding doors. 

 

Jake looks at his wife’s best friend and sighs.

“I think it helps we are reminded what is really at stake here. It's human lives we are talking about, we cannot ignore that.”

 

“We aren’t ignoring it, Jake, we are simply giving the man who up until a few hours ago, was our Chancellor, some privacy.” told him Callie, and to her surprise, Marcus was the one to explain whatever this was for them.

 

“I don’t think he deserves privacy, Callie, not after all that he had done, in this life and…” he let himself trail off, there were others in the room, and while the room was big enough that not everyone could hear him when he spoke in a regular tone, he wasn’t willing to take the risk.

 

“And we have to watch him,” added Jake, “because we can’t be sure he doesn’t have any supporters willing to break him out when we aren’t looking. So we better keep looking.”

 

“Looking over what?” asks Abby as she joins her friends and husband near the console, and grimaces when she notices what they are watching.

 

“Really?” she asks her husband, and he shrugs, looking unapologetic.

 

“We must come to a decision, Jake, we can’t hold on to him any longer without declaring our intentions.” said Marcus knowing that soon, despite the fact no one held much love for the former Chancellor, they will have riots on their hands, out of fear alone.

 

The sliding doors swish open once again and another increment of people spilled through, the rest of the Council members were here.

 

“You called us here, Kane, what for?” asked the Flint Station representative and Marcus sighed deeply, knowing that what he was about to tell the rest of the Council is going to shake them to the core.

Callie might have been pressing for them to voice their decision, but the decision was made before the children even touched the ground, Thelonious Jaha was never meant to see the ground again.

 

“Thelonious.” answered Jake simply, giving his friend a couple more seconds of respite.

 

“Is this about your attempt to imprison him?” asked Diana Sydney who was brought back to the Council by default when Thelonious was arrested,

 

“Not an attempt, Diana, he’s still in his cell.” says Abby stiffly, pointing at the screen they watched before, Thelonious is still pacing from side to side in his tiny metal prison.

 

“He will be tried as any other adult on the Ark,” told them Marcus. The rest of the Council move and fidget, knowing that if Thelonious’ miss deeds are coming back to haunt him, theirs could do the same.

 

“He will be executed for his crimes.”  continues Jake and Diana scuffs.

 

“So formal… You are treating this as if you are talking to the citizens, it’s only us here, you can say it like you mean it. You are floating the former Chancellor. Now, all we have to worry about now is the next elections.”

 

Marcus, Jake, Callie and Sinclair look at each other meaningfully, before Marcus takes it upon himself to inform their fellow Council members about what was to come.

 

“Actually, we are not floating him, we are executing him. One bullet between his eyes.” realizing how cold he sounded, Marcus grimaced and let Callie to take over for him.

 

“We won’t have that option for much longer now,” she tells them and they seem to be as confused as before. “We won’t have the ability to simply float people on the ground.” she reminded them and they all gasped, the thought of getting to the ground was both exciting and terrifying to all of them.

 

“Are we going to the ground?” Diana took it upon herself to question their every move it seemed.

 

“We are.” said Marcus, his eyes never leaving Diana’s.

 

“And who are you to make that call?” she asked and Marcus, for the first time that day, smiled.

 

“We just arrested the Chancellor, Diana, do you need a reminder what it means?”

 

This time it was Abby, who wasn’t even in on the plan, that repeated the instructions left on how to act in times such as this.

 

“When the Chancellor is arrested, the Chief of the Guard will be taking over as Chancellor, and the Ark will fall under martial law, therefore, any further elections and council appointments will be on hold to the point where the now Chancellor will decide the people are ready for a change of leadership and for elections without causing a riot.” Abby’s words were verbatim from the Ark’s penal code.

 

“You are the Chancellor now, Kane?” asked the Argo Station representative, curious about the new development, Marcus nods and the Council falls into disarray.

 

“There should be elections!” demands Diana, and they all knew why, but they couldn’t let that happen, not again, not after what happened the last time around.

 

This time, Thelonious and Diana will not have an option of banding together for their own gain, this time Diana won’t kill hundreds of people trying to get to the ground first, this time, there would be no Charles Pike.

 

“After we are all well and settled on the ground.” Jake calmly says, his eyes sharp and knowing, making Diana almost flinch under his stare.

 

“And when do you plan on landing?” Diana mocked, but this time the rest of the Council perked their ears for some actually useful information. Jake smiled brightly, excited.

 

“Our launching window opens in about 23 hours and ends about 24 hours later. So… Tomorrow?” Jake looked at Sinclair and the man nodded in agreement.

 

“We are all set to go at a moment’s notice.” said Sinclair who then typed a couple of commands into the console, opening the Ark’s schematics.

 

“The Ark doesn’t have enough dropships.” drops Diana, hoping for them to panic and try to explain what would be done with the rest of the Ark’s citizens.

 

Jake nodded seriously and the Council members gasp, not expecting that Jake Griffin himself would be nonchalant about such important problem.

 

“Which is why we won’t be using them.” This time, even Abby gasps with the rest, stunned at her husband’s words.

 

“We will all concentrate in Alpha and Argo stations, their structures are the most sound.” explains Sinclair and the people begin to understand, Jake was nonchalant because they had already figured out the answer.

 

“We then use the thrusters to detach from the rest of the Ark’s structure. We’re sending Mecha down as well, but only with equipment, we are not sure about the structural integrity of the outer hull, and don’t intend to check it by risking human lives.” continues Jake as Sinclair shows them the plans on the console.

 

“We should be on the ground in less than 48 hours.” declared Callie.

 

“And Thelonious needs to be executed beforehand.” reminds them Marcus, bringing the excited group back to the original somber mood they were all in in the beginning of the meeting.

 

The Flint Station and Orchid Station representatives stood quietly for a moment, while their fellow Council members talked loudly between them and then addressed Marcus.

 

“Is there anything we can do to help, Chancellor?” the Flint Station representative asked with respect painting his voice. Marcus let himself think for a second how helpful it would have been to have this level headed man on the ground the last time around, but then he thought about Jake and how he died to save the career of a man they both trusted too blindly. It might have been good, and they might not have made it back because there would have been nothing this big to fix, but it also meant that they would have lost so many of the best people Marcus had the chance to meet.

 

“Thank you, Jonas.” he nodded at the man and sighed, running his hand over his face tiredly.

 

“If there’s anything you can think of that you need, Marcus, tell me.” Gaia, the representative from Orchid Station told him and left the room, as the meeting seemed to be over, Jonas leaving right behind her nodding respectfully at the new head of the Council.

 

*** ***

 

It took them a few hours, and by the time they had it all figured out, the rest of their small team already made a list of people who would be directed to their landing station when the announcement would be made.

 

“Ready?” Jake asked Marcus as they sat in Jake and Abby’s quarters, near Jake’s workstation, connecting the microphone to the Ark’s general network.

 

“As I’ll ever be.” told him Marcus with a tired smile.

 

Jake worked on rewiring a few moments longer before the small light that was turned off the entire time, lit up and the microphone sounded a little crackle.

 

“Push this to turn it on.” instructed Jake, showing Marcus a little button right next to the red light. “It will connect you to the Ark’s sound system.”

 

Marcus nodded, taking the seat Jake rose from and squared his shoulders, even though there was no one but Jake there. Abby had already returned to MedBay, Callie made her way to Prison Station, to be ready to take Thelonious out of his cell the moment the announcement was made and Sinclair was preparing the gathering area on Alpha Station for the execution, placing a tarp on the metal floor, to avoid staining one of the stations that was actually going to make it to the ground as well as connecting the entire area to cameras and the Ark’s broadcasting systems.

 

Marcus took a deep breath, nodding in thanks to Jake and turned the microphone on.

 

A crackle could be heard throughout the Ark.


	24. Chapter Twenty Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've donated blood this morning, and once again was amazed by the stupidity of the rules of blood donors.  
> As a medic, I'm fairly well informed about what they do with the blood and how the check it for everything(! - that's a reason why it's all racist bull...) before allowing it to get to the blood bank, but here the government officials refuse to move on with times.  
> Lesbians can donate, but men who've had sex with another man since 1977 can't. (They are very specific)  
> Also, women who've had unprotected sex with men can donate, and men who've had unprotected sex with women, but if a man had protected sex with another man, it's a big no-no.  
> People of African decent can' either, which is so fucking racist I actually didn't believe my father when he told me that a couple of years ago until there was an entire story about it in the news.  
> also, people who've received blood in England... Dear British people, do you let you homosexuals donate blood? I'm assuming, from experience that yes, since England has always been more rational than Israel...  
> I'm ranting, but I'm annoyed, so I'm allowed.  
> Have a great weekend guys! and those of you who can donate blood, please do, it can save so many lives! spread the message!

“Dear citizens of the Ark, this is your Chancellor, Marcus Kane, speaking.

 

I know that for the past couple of days much have been going on, and that you’ve been left in the dark for far too long.

A couple of days ago, we arrested our former Chancellor, Thelonious Jaha. His crime being refusing to act on confirmed information that could save human lives. This crime amounts to treason.

 

It doesn’t explain much, I’m sure, but at the very least, you deserve to know what are the charges against your former leader…

 

A couple of years ago, a fault in our systems was found, but after much research and patches, it was found that the fault could not be fixed. The engineer who found the fault came to former Chancellor Jaha and told him about it, asking for the Council to be informed and action to be taken. Former Chancellor Jaha refused the engineer’s request and ordered for a solution to be found. The engineer again, asked for a team to work with, former Chancellor Jaha refused again and forbade the engineer of speaking of it.

 

The engineer, knowing the problem wasn’t going away on it’s own, begun looking for other solutions. One of the actions taken by the engineer was to locate all working satellites and turning them towards Earth, looking for weather patterns, and signs that radiation had lifted enough that we may return home.

 

A few months after the fault was found, another had located the problem, and saw the patches on it, recognizing it to be the work of the engineer, they came together, working to find solutions, which seemed to be lost on them both. They returned to look at the obvious option, going home, back to Earth.

 

When the engineer returned to former Chancellor Jaha about a year later, offering the option, he refused to even look at the proposed solution, telling the engineer to look further, and still refused to allocate the engineer a team to work with. This time, the engineer came to me next. 

 

Thelonious Jaha has taken actions to actively reject viable options to save all of our lives, since the fault found was the all inclusive systems failure which became imminent a couple of months ago, when Thelonious Jaha came up with another idea, which endangered human lives, this time, of our children’s.

 

Former Chancellor Jaha finally decided to take action, but too late, therefore, forcing him to hurt Ark citizens in the process. He decided to send 100 prisoners down to Earth, monitored, to check if the ground was once again habitable.

 

Those 100 prisoners,  **children** \- our entire prison population, were sent to the ground with no training and what little provisions the Council was willing to spare them.

 

They have been down on Earth for a little over a week now. As of this moment, they are all alive and thriving on the ground, their vitals are all good.”

 

Marcus had to stop for a moment, he knew the news of the children’s fate were harsh to those who didn’t know they would be joining them sooner rather than later, and he had to take a breather from the very long speech he had prepared.

 

“A couple of days ago, we received a data summary from the children’s monitoring scans, it was irrefutably good. None of the were exposed to fatal amounts of radiation, none of them were sick, and most importantly, none of them were dead.

 

On the other hand, we, here on the Ark, are in great danger. The CO2 scrubbers have begun to fail, we have maybe another week of Oxygen before signs of CO2 poisoning will be damaging enough to be noticed and harmful enough to cause long term damage.

It was presented to the Council, that we ought to make it to the ground soon, and that we were about to have a landing window that was close enough to where the children landed that we would be able to meet up with them within a day of landing.

 

Former Chancellor Jaha refused, telling us that the information was unconfirmed and there was no contact from the ground, although all scans proved otherwise. I arrested him when he was about to make the decision to once again delay the landing offered and to rework the problem once again. It has become too dangerous to wait.

 

Thelonious Jaha will be executed for his treason in an hour, in the main gathering hall in Alpha Station, we are lifting the gathering ban for the duration, if you can make it there in the next 20 minutes, and wish to be present, please do, if ot, the execution will be broadcasted.

 

Before you leave your quarters and workstations, after this announcement, please check your personal mail accounts, each of you have been assigned to a station for landing. You will be asked to be there in a certain time so we can proceed with landing in organized fashion. We should be on the ground within the next 48 hours.”

 

Marcus took a deep breath, afraid to utter the next part of his speech, knowing it will stun many.

 

“On the ground we would no longer have the ability to float anyone through the mechanism of airlocks. Executions will no longer be as clean as they have been all this time, nor would we have a penal code that requires that every crime would be punished by the ultimate highest regard.

 

We are not savages, and we will not kill needlessly.”

 

Marcus was speaking about the people of the clans they were about to meet, but the citizens knew nothing of it.

 

“I refuse to act as former Chancellor Jaha has, I will not wash my hands of my people, and you are all my people.

I will be the one executing former Chancellor Jaha, and it won’t be b an airlock.

The act is not suitable for children to watch, please, if such thing is not something you wish your children to see, ask them turn off their broadcasting screens and don’t bring them to Alpha Station, though I do have to warn you that the sound will be broadcasted all over the Ark.

 

Let us all be safe and prepare for our journey to the ground. May we meet again.”

 

Marcus turned off the microphone, looking over his shoulder as Jake sat on the sofa, nodding back at him in support.

 

“You did good.” Jake said as they both rose from their seats.

 

“Let’s hope you are not the only one who thinks that.” sighed Marcus and the two left the living quarters quickly, before people realized the entire speech was broadcasted not from the central command room, but from Jake and Abby Griffin’s quarters.

 

They managed to make it to the main part of Alpha Station when the first looks and whispers began. When they reached the gathering hall, where Sinclair was waiting for them, they noticed many had already gathered in small groups near and around the center, eyeing the tarp on the floor questioningly.

 

“Callie’s on her way with Jaha.” greeted them Sinclair and Marcus nodded.

 

“She has the gun?” asked Jake, making sure all was going according to plan.

 

“Yes.” nods Sinclair as he shows Marcus to the side, attaching a tiny microphone to his shirt. “She already has Abby on the move as well. Abby agreed to confirm time of death after.”

 

“She told me.” tells them Jake as he helps Sinclair run the last system check before turning on the rewired sound system that was rigged just for this occasion.

 

“All ready.” he assures Sinclair and so, the three men wait for the rest of their team and the Ark’s general population made it there as well.

 

*** ***

 

Callie Cartwig has never thought she would take an active part of an execution and feel as if she’s doing the world a favor by doing so.

 

Walking down the main corridor of Prison Station, a couple of Marcus’ best trained and most trusted guards walking about a step behind her.

 

They reach Thelonious’ cell and Callie nods at the two men behind her, they both pulled out the shock batons all guards carry.

 

Callie opens the door to the cell and moves aside, allowing for the guards to rush in and secure the prisoner. They pull him out and stand him before her.

 

“You already heard the announcement.” she states, looking at the man she once called a dear friend in disappointment.

 

“You are all making a big mistake, Callie. Don’t.” begged Thelonious, but Callie had a much better idea than him on what could happen if they don’t follow through with the plan and she liked the odds of them do following the plan much better.

 

“Those who are about to die will say anything.” Callie turns and signals for the guards to follow. The four make their way to Alpha Station the most direct and central route possible. This was their petty revenge on the man they put their trust in, only for their world to be taken away from them when what little true power the man had was in danger of wavering.

 

*** ***

 

Abby figured something was up with her husband a long time ago, but when he stood there, looking at their former friend about to be executed, his eyes dry and his face showing the clear disappointment he felt, she knew it was all much deeper than what she had been told.

 

Jake was a caring man, this is one of the main qualities that drew her to him in the first place, but here he was, nothing but disappointment on his face. He hasn’t changed, of that, she was sure, but something about the entire situation has changed, and her nerves were wrecked trying to find out what.

 

*** ***

 

Marcus has used a gun before. Training, even the occasional arrest that needed exceptional use of power, not that there were many of those, but still, what Marcus has never done before, was execute a man from point blank range.

 

Not even on the ground, the last time around, did he kill anyone by his own two hands.

He stilled and reminded himself that even Lexa and Clarke, both half his age, had both executed a man or two, with their own two hands. Not that it was something to be proud of, but they still did it, and now, it was his turn.

 

“Thelonious Jaha, on the charges of child endangerment, the refusal to use confirmed information to save multiple human lives for no apparent reason and treason, you are hereby sentenced to death. Do you have any last words?”

 

Thelonious shakes his head one last time.

“You are doing a mistake, Marcus.”

 

“Goodbye Thelonious.”

 

BANG.


	25. Chapter Twenty Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You thought I would leave you hanging for another couple of weeks, didn't you?
> 
> Have a great weekend!

It was something akin to shock that overtook Clarke and Lexa, but ran much deeper.

 

This piece of their history, one that had information that settled both their minds about some, yet left so many questions unanswered.

 

The letter was carefully folded by Clarke and given to Lexa, who, in turn, placed it in a inner pocket in her coat. The two stared for a moment at the metal case, wondering if they should trust the letter and do as Becca has commanded them.

 

“ _ leksa? _ ” Clarke spoke shakily.

 

“ _ sha, niron? _ ” asked Lexa, distracted.

 

“ _ nou bants ai, ai nou gaf bilaik soulou in. _ ” Lexa’s head snapped in alarm at her lover’s words.

 

“ _ klark! _ ” but Clarke was already liberating the veils from the case, and as they were told, only five were full, and the dark liquid barely sloshed around, the injection gun completely intact and in pristine condition.

 

Clarke loaded the first veil and sta down in the chair that was tucked in behind the desk. Relieving herself of her own jacket and then raising the sleeve of her shirt, Clarke went to look for a vein, after a couple of minutes looking without anything to aide her, she pulls a string away from her pocket, it was intended to help her tie her hair, but in this instance, it would act as a tourniquet, allowing for her veins to bulge and be seen clearer. Finally, she finds a good vein, she raises her head to look at Lexa.

 

Lexa is both worried and proud, and even slightly scandalized. She was well aware that by training, Clarke was a  _ fisa _ , but to see her attempting procedures on her own body, all by herself, made her shudder with something like fear, yet not quite. When Clarke raised her head to look at her, she held her eyes and tried to calm her expression, she was partially successful, but Clarke knew her too well.

 

“ _ ai get dis dula in, ai bilaik klir, ai swega yu klin. _ ”

 

“ _ klark _ ” croaked Lexa, her eyes watching the injection gun on the table warily.

 

“ _ leksa. _ ” and before Lexa has the time to react, Clarke takes the injection gun, presses it to her skin and pushed the trigger.

 

Pain painted Clarke’s face as the veil emptied itself into her bloodstream, it took a little longer than she thought it would, making it harder for her to continue pressing down the trigger every time the mechanism stopped. Struggling and grunting from the pain of the injection and the burning of the Nightblood serum, Clarke bravely, some might even say stupidly, continued pushing through the pain.

 

All Lexa could do is watch on in both wonder and horror as her lover hurt herself time after time, letting the serum paint her blood black. She came closer, slowly, as the veil emptied itself more and more, as the pain in Clarke’s eyes intensified, as Lexa’s worst nightmares came to be. To watch the woman she loves, hurt, because of her.

 

“ _ sis ai op… _ ” begged Clarke as she detached the first veil and struggled to connect the second.

 

It took less than a second for Lexa to react, she swooped in and did exactly what she saw Clarke do a few minutes earlier, slipping the veil into the slot until she heard a click, she then handed it back to Clarke, falling to her knees beside her, grabbing the hand Clarke was injecting into, squeezing the palm and then helping her stabilize it by holding on to her elbow, keeping it straight as Clarke injected the serum.

 

Another veil went in, Clarke began feeling tremors up and down her spine.

 

Another veil, and the tremors became stronger and spread.

 

Another veil, tears soaked the collar of Clarke’s shirt. Shaking and crying, she reached for the final veil, when she felt Lexa’s hand going for it as well, Lexa switches out the veil, holding it to Clarke, tears staining her own cheeks and her green eyes dark.

 

“ _ las won _ ” she whispers in Clarke’s ear, kissing her temple as she held her lover close, the next few minutes will become some of the most difficult she had ever suffered.

 

The last veil emptied into Clarke’s bloodstream and the injection gun was put away in the case, Clarke sat down, resting from the mental and physical effort it took to inject herself while Lexa clean the area, placing all the used veils back in the case, and took out the small tin box they now knew held the second Flame.

 

Clarke sat quietly for a moment, noticing the burn was becoming manageable, she took in a deep breath and was about to tell Lexa she was alright to continue when it hit her.

 

The waves of pain, sharp, bursting and burning like an inferno she would never be able to control, came at her all at once. She let out a sharp scream, alerting Lexa of her condition.

For the next couple of minutes, Clarke suffered in unimaginable pain, while all Lexa could do is hold her in her arms and cry for the pain she was suffering, something both will never want to revisit again.

 

Clarke’s pain subsides with time. About ten minutes after the last injection, she can truly feel that nothing was wrong with her body, that the pain disappeared, most likely, to never come back.

 

“ _ leksa, yun swis _ ” Clarke reaches for the strap on Lexa’s thigh and pulls the dagger free from it’s housing. She brings it to the tip of her finger, and Lexa finally understands what she’s trying to do. One droplet of blood bubbles up to the surface, dark as the night, thick and sweet smelling. It was a successful experiment.

 

Lexa knew what was to come now, but she did not like it, she opens the tin box and stares at the silicon chip in the box, it was bluish tinted, clear material, it had the sacred mark on both sides and was cool to the touch, when she nudged it with the tip of her finger.

 

“I don’t remember my ascension.” Lexa switches to English, feeling that this would be a proper way to respect the Flame, who came from a woman who spoke it since her birth in the pre-war world, where the idea of the Flame was initially thought of.

 

“I remember Aden’s.” Clarke shrugs as if it were of no consequence. Lexa nods sharply.

 

“You’ll have to do the honors.” tells her Clarke as she gives her back her dagger, hilt first.

 

“What should I do?” asks Lexa as Clarke turns so her back is to Lexa’s front, she isnt close enough for Lexa simply bend her head and kiss the back of her neck like she wants to, but close enough so Lexa can gather her hain together and slide it over her shoulder, smoothing the white skin revealed by the absence of hair.

 

“You need to make a cut down the back of my neck,” Lexa removes her hands from Clarke in less than a second.”

 

“ _ chit? _ ” she hissed, her brow furrowing.

 

“You need to make a cut down my neck, it has to be deep, but not too deep, then place the Flame there, I’ll say the activation phrase and then you’ll have to seal it. I don’t have a needle and a thread, so you’ll have to sear it closed. Can I trust you to do that?”

 

“Always.” despite her reservations, Lexa would always listen to Clarke, she may not like it. And may not act on whatever Clarke has said, but she’ll always have her ears.

 

Lexa holds her most treasured weapon and holds it to the neck of her most treasured person, the two should never be held against each other, in Lexa’s mind, but it seemed that fate was a cruel mistress.

 

Making the cut as quickly and hopefully as painlessly as she could, Lexa heard Clarke gasp in pain, but unlike when the serum was rampaging through her system, she did not scream. A trickle of black blood made it out of the wound.

 

The Flame came next, and Lexa pushed the chip into the cut she had created seconds before, wincing when she heard Clarke cry out in pain.

 

“I was given something for the pain before my ascension.” cried Lexa as she had to push the Flame even harder.

 

“We don’t have this kind of luxury, nor do we have the time.” gasped Clarke as the pain was pulling sharply at her focus.

 

“Is it done yet?” she asked and Lexa croaked out her answer.

 

“It’s not all the way through.”

 

“It doesn’t have to be,” shrugs Clarke and brings her hand to catch Lexa’s, stopping her from pushing the Flame any further.

 

“Ready?” jokes Clarke.

 

“You are asking me?”

 

“You are the one who will no longer be special,  _ leksa _ .”

 

“I am ready.” conceded Lexa and Clarke let her hands drop from Lexa’s wrists as Lexa dragged her own palms down Clarke’s back in comfort.

 

“ _ Ascendo Superiores”  _ Clarke screamed again.

 

Lexa watched as the tiny chip spread small tentacles, burying itself in Clarke’s physique, righting itself in the back of her neck.

As she was about to light up a small fire to warm her blade on, a couple of the tiny wires crawled out of Clarke’s wound and began sewing her skin back together, leaving Lexa stunned and perplexed. When Clarke noticed, once the pain left her, that Lexa had yet to seal her skin, asked her lover if all was fine, Lexa, in her wonder, ran her fingers on the newly sewn skin, making Clarke hiss in pain.

 

“I didn’t need to do anything, it’s healing on it’s own.”

 

And the world goes dark.

 

For both of them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know! it's been so long!
> 
> sha , niron? - Yes, my love?  
> nou bants ai, ai nou gaf bilaik soulou in. - Don’t leave me, I don’t want to be alone.  
> Ai get dis dula in, ai bilaik klir, ai swega yu klin. - I know how to do this, I will be safe, I swear.  
> Sis ai op - help me  
> Las won - last one  
> Leksa, yun swis - Lexa, your knife  
> Chit? - what?


	26. Chapter Twenty Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to share the great news.  
> I crossed the finish line for NaNoWriMo 2016. I'm not done with my novel, but I am officially, over 50k words. It's been crazy, and a lot of people called me mental to even attempt it, but it was fun and eye opening, it's been a great journey for me, and I would like to thank you all for being patient with me.  
> I typed this chapter in quite a rush and I did not have time to go over it and fix all the problems with spelling (as I didn't with the last few chapters - as people pointed out for me - I know) but I didn't want this weekend to pass without updating. I hope you all enjoy it, it's been a real pleasure to write.  
> Good luck to all those still writing for NaNoWriMo, until the 30th of November, have fun, it's the most important advice I can give you! (BTW- What are you doing here? Procrastinating much?!)

It took a few minutes for the two young women to get used to the bright white light and the feel of hard, smooth material under their bodies, only then, did the two open their eyes.

 

Lexa was stunned, she had seen this room before, only once, on her ascension night, when she took the Flame and swore her loyalty to the clans, this was the same room, but something was different, the feel of it, it was more, calm, but yet it still had an edge to the feeling, as if something was not quite right, and it had nothing to do with the fact she was joined by another.

 

Clarke opened her eyes slowly, the bright lights reminding her of the Ark, which really wasn’t the most pleasant of memories when you were chucked out of the Ark just so others could live a little longer.

When she did open her eyes, she was greeted by a floor covered in stark white linoleum. She recognized the material from the  Ark’s bathroom stalls which floor’s consisted of a bland grey linoleum. The floor was spotless and Clarke could feel the hum of machine under her fingers and ear which was still pressed down to the floor, she slowly sat up and saw that Lexa was already on her feet, looking down at her.

 

Lexa offered Clarke a hand and slowly pulled the blonde to her feet, focusing solely on her. When they were both on their feet, they took a moment to hold each other, the feel of their bodies was real, their heartbeat present and their hearing and sight were both clear, it was like waking up within a dream.

 

It wasn’t because they were too invested in each other, that they didn’t notice the other presence in the room, it’s that there wasn’t anything to hear, nothing to smell and no warmth to speak of either. It was like they weren’t actually in the presence of anyone but the two of them.

 

“Young love… Always so inspiring.” chuckled the foreign entity which stood at the corner, right outside their line of sight, leaning her hip on a rather comfortable looking leather armchair. It was as if the sterile room they were standing in simply blended into a old study, hardwood floors and walls made of shelves full of books and a hearty fire in a grand, carved fireplace. The leather armchair stood only a feet or so away from the fire and the woman who just spoke was standing right over it, running her hands above the flames.

 

Her hair was dark, and her skin a warm golden tone, she was wearing a tight pair of dark jeans and her long sleeved grey shirt was clinging to her every curve. She was very beautiful from the angle they could both see, but her face was turned to the fire.

 

She turned and faced them.

 

“ _ heda _ ” Lexa spoke reverently and the woman smiled, her full lips stretching softly over bright white teeth.

 

“Lexa,” Becca smile was genuine and warm, it made Lexa blush under the attention.

 

“My girlfriend is a blushing teenage girl.” Clarke rolled her eyes at Lexa’s reaction to the woman’s smile. Then turned to face the woman herself.

 

“Commander,” she nodded politely, trying to place her face, she then realized that they features were uncanningly similar to Lexa’s. She knew who this woman was. It was  _ bekka pramheda _ in all her glory.

 

“Hello Clarke.” Becca smiles.

 

“Where are we?” asks the blonde and Becca is more than willing to answer.

 

“I call it the dreamscape, but you can call it whatever you chose to. It’s where the Commander’s interface is being introduced to the host for the first time.”

 

“So why are we both here?” asks Clarke, motioning for Lexa who was looking at the study-like side of the room, trailing her hand where the white walls bled into wooden shelves, raising her hand from time to time, checking if her fingers were still there, undamaged.

 

Lexa knew that they were talking about her as well, so she turned to face both women, waiting for Becca’s answer.

 

“The Flame you are carrying, Clarke, is Lexa’s twin, which means they are identical and still, the work together to complete the whole. You are both here because in this case, this king=d of interaction with the Flame is new to the both of you, and it’s my job, as the interface, to teach you how to use it.”

 

“You are the interface?” asked Clarke, her nose scrunching in distaste. “You are a computer program?”

 

“Would you like it better if I called myself the spirit of the commander?” asked Becca, knowingly addressing both women with her question. Lexa’s faith in the unending circle of the Commander and Clarke’s aversion to anything AI was playing the same fears to the both of them when Becca called herself the interface.

 

“No.” it was Lexa who spoke this time. “We might be uncomfortable for a little while, but at least you were honest with you intentions.”

 

“This is how Rebecca programmed me to be,” explains the interface, she then walks towards the two women, she passes them by and steps to a hatch in the wall, it’s closed and only goes halfway height-wise. The interface presses a button somewhere on the wall, and the hatch opens.

 

Clarke and Lexa are stunned by the sight. The blue and green swirling orb was like a jewel in the darkness in which it was set.

 

“Earth.” Clarke murmurs and Lexa is mesmerized.

 

“This is how you saw the ground from your Ark?” she asks Clarke, the blonde nods.

 

“ _ meizen _ .” says Lexa and Clarke nods in agreement. It truly was.

 

“Why are you showing us this?” asks Clarke. This couldn’t be real, this was only a memory of Clarke’s used by the interface, it had to be.

 

“This is what Earth looks like right now.” shrugs Becca, as if it explained anything at all.

 

“I know.” says Clarke, still looking out at the blue orb, one of the only things she missed about the Ark, the sight of Earth from it.

 

“No, you don’t.” said Becca’s interface. “Wait, we are about to cross to the dark side.” Clarke knew what she meant, but Lexa looked at her, questioning her words with her look.

 

“The part of Earth that doesn’t currently face the sun.” explains Clarke before the interface can say anything at all. Becca nods at the blonde’s explanation.

 

“There is a part of the ground that doesn’t face the sun?” Lexa’s eyes widen and Clarke is about to calm her down when she sees the smirk on the corner of Lexa’s lips.

 

“I hate you.” she tells Lexa and crosses her arms over her chest. Lexa is quick to be by her side, hand on her lower back and another prying her arms loose, just as they are about to squabble over Lexa’s teasing, the scene outside the window changes.

 

The once blue and green orb is now all in dark purples, but that’s not what bothered them, no, it was the numerous yellowish dots on the land masses, it was the splashed of orange veins and the very little darkness around the landmasses.

 

“There are people who survived on other lands?” asks Lexa in awe, but Clarke looks closely at the orb and notices something she’s sure Lexa didn’t even know there is to notice.

 

“No.” she said, her voice serious. She looks at the interface, scowling. “Why are you showing this to us? This is a lie.”

 

“No Clarke, this is the truth, and this is why my creator made sure to leave behind another Flame. The signal one of them can generate is great, but even strengthened by radiation exposure, the human body can take only so much of the waves it pours out without damage, with two of them active, the signal, which was strong to begin with, it doubles, this is the end, this is your way home.”

 

“What is she talking about, Clarke, why did you say there aren’t people on other lands, Clarke? there obviously are.” says Lexa, pointing at the surface.

 

Clarke’s face softens as she steps up next to Lexa and points at the landmass that is central in the orb, the one Lexa pointed out when she spoke of people on other lands.

 

“Lexa, do you see how these two lands are connected by this really thin strip of land.” Lexa nods. Clarke continues.

 

“See the higher part, it’s called North America.” Clarke says and Lexa’s eyes brighten, it’s a name she recognized. “See the part over there, the lower right side, where there are three really big light centers and a lot of dots circling them?” Lexa nods again.

 

“That’s Washington DC, Alexandria and Baltimore.” tells her Clarke and Lexa finally understands.

 

“Ton DC?” her voice croaks and Clarke nods.

 

“Yes, but before the war.”

 

“No.” speaks Becca. “This picture is not from before the war. Clarke, it’s a live feed from the ISS. and the three centers you pointed at, it’s the right idea, but only the easternmost center is the area of those three cities. As population grew, so did the cities.”

 

Clarke and Lexa are both stunned.

 

The interface pushed another button on the wall and the scene outside changes again, this time it’s a massive metallic orb, a part of it is covered with a thin glowing blue film, atmosphere. The rest is dull grey, some with holes, some with unexplained groves. It wasn’t natural, that’s for sure. Slowly, during the time they were watching the metal orb, another contraption sneaked into the picture, at first it was hard to see clearly, but as it pulled through the screen, Clarke recognized it for what it was.

 

The Ark.

 

She turned to look at the interface, who was looking over the sight sorrowfully.

 

“Is this real?” asks Clarke, she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

 

“This is x-2052, or as the public likes to call it, Phantom Earth.” it wasn’t Becca’s interface who spoke, it was a new voice altogether.

  
*** ***

 

The strong smell of coffee woke Claudia up from her short nap at the desk, where she was supposed to watch out for the progression in their plan.

She blinked twice, slowly as her nose scrunched at the feel of warm steam tickling the tip of it.

 

“Wakey wakey, time for breaky.” came the low toned rhyme whispered into her exposed ear. She jumped up, already recognizing the culprit.

 

“The FUCK, Chris?” Christina took the time to laugh at her younger sister, her squinting eyes and ruffled hair really showed just how young she was, the college junior looked as stressed as she probably felt.

 

“Sorry, couldn’t help it… besides, you were sleeping on the job!” Claudia blushes hard, despite looking unapologetic.

 

“At least you brought coffee.” she grumbled as she took a sip from the hot beverage, humming when the taste hits her tongue, just as she likes it.

 

“I’m not a monster.” says Christina as she takes the seat next to Claudia.

 

“No, but you are my older sister, which sometimes means you are worst.”

 

“You give me a bad reputation, baby girl.”

 

“You stop calling me that, and I will think about stopping.” said Claudia, she hated being constantly reminded that she was the youngest among the entire operation, even Felicity and Ethan were a year older than her, both of them.

 

“Oh, no, I didn’t say I didn’t like it!” Christina grinned at her younger sister, looking at the young redhead with adoration. For all the teasing they each made the other endure, they adored one another, and when push came to shove, they would take on the world together, squabbling all the way…

 

“Christina, Claudia.” they heard the cool voice of her mother behind them, and they both grinned. Their mother’s voice may sound cool to many, but they both knew it was because of her aristocratic English upbringing. She spoke politely and every single word she said was well thought out, but the truth was, she was just as mischievous as they were and was their greatest ally wherever they went and with whatever they chose to do.

 

“Mum!” Claudia grinned at the older woman, making her mother grin right back, a sparkle taking over her dark brown eyes.

 

“Mother.” Christina received the same uptight upbringing their mother had, and some habits just don’t leave you, no matter how hard you try.

 

Helena kisses the top of their heads in greeting and takes a seat on the third chair at the desk.

 

“Where is your wife?” she asks Christina as her eldest daughter is typing a thing or another into the command line on one of the screens.

 

“One is out in space, on your orders.” Christina’s smirk is all that Helena gets since her daughter is still very much focused on the screen before her, “and the other is staying with the kids for tonight, we couldn’t find a sitter we both approved on with such a short notice.”

 

Christina was living in Windsor, England all this time and only came to visit once every few weeks, her wives, on the other hand, one worked primarily in Toronto, Canada, and the other, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They used their considerable fortune flying between the three cities and three countries on a weekly basis, the children all attending schools in their homeland, England.

 

“The kids are here?” asks Claudia, she loved her nieces and nephews and barely had the time to see them in the last few years. Christina nods, and Claudia squeaks happily.

 

“I am coming over when my shift is done!” she declares and Christina smiles in agreement. 

 

Christina press enter on the keyboard, uploading whatever command she typed and the smile is gone from her face almost instantly, Helena takes notice.

 

“Love, what is it?” Christina looks at her mother and says with a choked breath.

 

“Call the others, we are a go.” on the screen they can see two young women, one with her back to the other, the brunette pushing something too small for them to see into the blonde’s neck, but they don’t have to see it to guess what it is, they were waiting for it for too long.

 

It took a few minutes before all the people in the brownstone were gathered in the media control room, some wearing their pajamas, others clothed in outdoor clothing, having run from home. Those who could…

 

They watched the screen as the two young women lost consciousness and were frantic in their attempt to connect to a server they maintained, but never actually had to consent to.

 

They succeeded just in time, hearing a woman introduce herself to the two young women they just watched fall unconscious a few minutes ago.

 

“What is she doing?” asked Claudia.

 

“Easing them in, we don’t need a couple of panicking enhanced humans on our hands.” answers Christina as she hands her mother a microphone that’s connected to the system, a video camera is activated and her mother turns to sit with her back to the wall, not to overexpose the other members of the operation in a chance that there is anyone else piggybacking off their connection, even though it was old and rather secured, no one could be too careful when it came to human lives.

 

“This is x-2052, or as the public likes to call it, Phantom Earth.”

  
*** ***

 

Their heads snapped to a screen at the corner of the sterile room, it matched with the rest of the decor, but it was actually working on it’s own.

 

The woman had dark hair, it was greying at the temples, she was pale, like Clarke, but her eyes a dark brown that matched Becca’s, she looked like she was in her forties, but something told Clarke she was older, and that she was real, because no AI or VI she had ever heard of could look this tired and this happy at the same time.

 

“Welcome to the consciousness of the real world, Clarke, Alexandria, we have been waiting for too long.” she greeted the two of them by name, she then nodded at the interface with a quirked smile.

 

“Thank you, Becca, for easing them into it.” she thanks her, and the interface smiles back.

 

“This is what I was programmed to do.” she declares proudly.

 

“Yes, it was, you are more than welcome to remain active while this takes place, it might help that the girls have someone familiar on their side of things.”

 

Lexa scuffs and Clarke glares.

 

“We are not girls.” Clarke is adamant.

 

“Are you a female of the human species?” the woman asked her, amused, and Clarke relents.

 

“My name is Helena Walsh.” the woman in the screen finally introduces herself. “And this is not a dream.”

 

Clarke wanted to scuff and Lexa still stared at the woman suspiciously, but they both knew, there was no way for this to be a figment of their imaginations, it was too detailed, and neither was willing to trust the woman readily, which would have been their first instinct had they dreamt her up.

 

“What is this, then?” asked Clarke.

 

“You are inside the mindscape designed by Rebecca Walsh, you might know of her as the original Commander, Becca, she was a British scientist-”

 

“British?” asked Lexa, not familiar with the place mentioned.

 

“It’s a pre-war country, it’s not on this continent, it’s probably a two weeks journey with one of the  _ floudonkru _ boats.” Clarke answers Lexa’s question. The woman in the screen nods.

 

“A little longer, I believe, if the island itself existed on your world.” Clarke’s eyes widened.

 

“What do you mean?” asked Lexa.

 

“To answer your question, it would be easier to tell you the entire story.” the woman in the screen looked to her side and nodded for unseen and unheard reasons.

 

“Proceed.” seethed Lexa, she did not like being out of the loop.

 

Helena sighed.

 

“A century ago, an academic theory ran in the unofficial circuits, what would happen to the human race should a nuclear disaster strike, the governments of a few countries became invested in the question, to the point of helping fund the building of a facility that could house an experiment that would answer this question.The facility in question, the one you are on right now, is called x-2052, for the year the building was completed and the year it was populated.”

 

“Populated?” Clarke’s voice cracks, she can guess what this was coming to, if all that this woman was saying is the truth.

 

“The countries that founded the project took this opportunity to get rid of the people who knew too much, who questioned too much, the people who could threaten their empires and the political power play between those countries in the worldwide circuit. Much like Thelonious Jaha did to your father last time, Clarke.”

 

“How do you know about that?” both young women stretched to their most imposing form at Helena’s comment, not many knew of their return to the past.

 

“We’ve been watching you for as long as this experiment was going on, we know everything there is to know about you. The most important players of every generation have been followed all their lives, every Nightblood, every Commander, every clan leader and Ark Council member, scientists and spiritual leaders, all noted and recorded, followed, so we may be able to predict things before they happen and prevent catastrophes.

We know you think this is your past, being relieved, but it isn’t.”

 

Lexa and Clarke look at Helena in disbelief.

 

“The experiment itself was set to run four generations, 100 years. They used three control groups, in the media, they call you Those Saved, Those Immune and Those Hidden. I know you can guess which is which. After the 100 years were to pass, the experiment on all its components was to be completely obliterated. We couldn’t let this happen.”

 

“You said this wasn’t our past.” reminds her Lexa. Helena nods.

 

“It isn’t. When one of you is born, the night after, an operation drone, the x-2052 is full of those pesky fucks, and a chip is inserted in them, it’s called a perception filter, it helps control the areas you can reach by changing your perception of what’s safe and what isn’t it’s also creates an opportunity for the drones to come close and remain unnoticed. Those filters are encoded with computer programs that use your brain waves and the electrical current in your body to change your perception of objects in space, of how things look and how they sound.

When Lexa was attacked and you right after her, we came to a conclusion we could not proceed with the people that remained, not if we wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible. From the start of this experiment, we had people inside, and their job was to collect the bodies of the fallen, and those that could be saved, were.

Every five years, the entire footage from the experiment is downloaded and cut to a three hour movie, only the important parts remain, those movies are broadcasted all over the world, but the original footage, after it’s reviewed by the official scientists that participate, it’s wiped clean from the servers and records. We use that window to immerse people back in our world. Fortunately, this is the last five years, and security was much more lax, they know they will be ridding of you all soon, so they aren’t as concerned as to what happens here, but this was an opportunity for us to come in and collect as many people as we can, unfortunately, though, the two of you, our best choice for first contact, were killed, fortunately, not in a way you cannot be brought back.

With the five years not yet over, we decided to patch you all up, and put you back where you where. We used the filters to wipe everyone’s memories of the three years prior and put you back in, memories intact but perception filters set to present you with your younger bodies, this allowed you to prepare better-”

 

“What about the Ark? It fell down. it  would have been impossible to fix.” attacked Clarke and the woman in the screen nodded.

 

“If it truly did, it would have, but as it were, only a couple of the stations detached last time, and the rest of the people were all put under and held in our ship, to allow us to introduce them into society when the five years were over, luckily for us, we quickly replaced the two missing stations, when they were built, they built redundant parts as well, to make sure they’ll never have to invade the stations to teach new recruits the entire layout of the stations, but there were no new recruits for the past decade, so we used it to replace the stations and cleared out the areas where they had fallen last time. This allowed you another three years on the Ark but still kept true to the problems that rose last time around, as both replacements were just as old as the originals.”

 

“Why are you doing all that?” asked Lexa, not quite understanding what were this woman’s motives.

 

“We want you out of there, and we want you all out of there alive, and soon.”

 

“Why?” asked Clarke, not quite understanding herself.

 

Suddenly a second woman entered the picture on the screen, she was younger than Helena, but looked a lot like her. She looked impatient and Helena looked mad at the intrusion. Lexa and Clarke were simply shocked, because this, this showed them proof this was real. The unexpected never happened in a dream, no dream was truly linear, and you were never completely surprised in one.

 

“Listen up.” the new woman spoke, her voice aggressive and her eyes desperate.

 

“We don’t have time to be nice about it, mother.” this time she spoke to Helena over her shoulder, giving them the context which they craved.

 

“We cheated. We put you back so you can lead everyone out, because for once, for once in the past century, there are leaders people actually follow, you are leaders that people actually follow, they’ll go wherever you tell them, no questions asked, and we need that, because we don’t have time.

We gave you three years, when we pulled you out, it was almost 97 years to the experiment’s beginning, I know you know simple math, the both of you.”

 

It didn’t take the girls long to make the connection, to see the sum.

 

“If it wasn’t clear,” Helena’s daughter continued on aggressively. “You have four months to get everyone out of there, or you are all dead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a lot of trig... but whatever...
> 
> bekka pramheda - Becca the first Commander  
> Meizen - beautiful


	27. Chapter Twenty Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a long week and the wonderful discovery of 4thewords, which I highly recommend to check out... Another chapter.
> 
> I was very sorry to see not everyone liked where the story line is going, unfortunately for them, I'm honestly writing this more for me than for you... Sorry...  
> You see, the past couple of years have been really tough on me emotionally speaking, and writing has been my way to protect myself from reality and let me release steam without hurting anyone or tearing myself apart in the gym (which I still occasionally do). I love science fiction, always have, and this is my way to contribute for now. If anything is unclear but already has been explained in the story, don't be hesitant to ask, I would be more than happy to walk you through it!  
> Have a great weekend!

Clarke and Lexa remain stunned for a couple of minutes, but then Lexa comes out of her shock, face red and hands curled into tight fists.

 

"You dare threaten us?" she spat out, eyes shooting fire.

 

Helena's child shakes her head and sighs. she seems a little calmer than she was before.

 

"This is not a threat, Alexandria, this is a warning. We do not wish you all dead, quite the opposite, we have invested too much of our lives in your well-being. This was the only way I knew that the two of you would stop asking questions for long enough for us to pass on the message."

 

There was a long silence, and Clarke suddenly realized something very important, they had no true idea who these women were, They knew Helena's name, nothing more.

 

"Who are you?" Clarke's question was spoken so lowly that they barely heard her, but the serious look on her face made them all understand that nothing will happen until she would have her answer.

 

"We are those who were left behind, or at least, their descendants." answers Helena.

 

"There's quite a lot of us, four generations down and all." smirks her daughter.

 

Helena looks at her pointedly and she rolls her eyes.

 

"My name is Christina Walsh, I'm Helena's eldest daughter and I'm in charge of the medical forces of our little rebellion."

 

"Rebellion?" asks Lexa and Christina chuckles.

 

"We are up against government agencies here, what else would we call it?"

 

"Still doesn't explain why you are doing this." tells her Clarke. "As you've said, you lot are safe, why bother?"

 

"What would you feel like if someone took your mother and told you she died of a work accident, right after your father got a message from her that she thinks someone's coming for her, and then to hear a crudely broadcasted message as a teenager, one with your mother's voice and a woman identifying herself as your mother, reaches you. and this message isn't old, the woman speaks the day's date and repeats one message over and over. Wouldn't you become suspicious? because my grandfather was. So he gathered information about people whose relatives were other scientists and government officials and soldiers that disappeared under suspicious circumstances.

23 years into the experiment, and my grandfather boasted the first wave of insiders. We've been gathering support in our cause to terminate the experiment ever since, but our cries went unheard and the experiment is about to end, and with it, your lives and the space stations you now live on, the main orb which is where you are now, and the orbiting Ark stations will all be re-purposed." It was Helena who gave the entirely too long, but very important speech to the girls.

 

"Why us?" asks Clarke quietly. "Why is it always us?" Helena smiled sadly at the blonde.

 

"You were born for this, Clarke, but circumstances made you who you are, and who you are now, is a leader whose power does not come into question."

 

Clarke snorted at this.

 

"You obviously haven't been watching us very closely." she said.

 

"We have been watching, Clarke, and the power that does not come to question isn't about whether or not the people question it's legitimacy, but the fact that you have some sort of power of persuasion over others, that does not come into question at all."

 

"That is enough." Lexa ends the pointless discussion and looks at the women on the screen before them questions still burning in her eyes. 

 

"What is it that you need from us? you wouldn't have contacted us unless you needed something."

 

Christina and Helena both chuckle, and at Lexa's suspicious glare they explain.

 

"You look like my younger sister does when she's annoyed," explains Christina.

 

"My youngest does tend to glare away her annoyance with people or situations. you don't particularly bear resemblance in your features, but the actions are very similar in style." tells her Helena, looking highly amused.

 

"What is it that you need from us?" Lexa's hiss stresses how annoyed she truly feels.

 

"We need you to help us plan how to evacuate everyone, but this cannot be done now. You have people looking for you, and we cannot be discovered, nor can we have you questioned. Just for now, keep safe, we will talk more about the plan soon." Helena's instructions are unclear and this infuriates Clarke and Lexa both.

 

"Listen," Christina addresses them, looking like she was about to say something she knows they won't like. "You need to leave the Mountain Men alive." They both look at her, stunned.

 

"We know this is hard for you to take in-" started Helena, but they didn't let her finish.

 

"You want us to leave the Mountain Men alone?!" seethed Clarke, Lexa red with anger beside her.

  
  


"That isn't what I said," Christina's voice darkened and when Helena attempted to go on, she stopped her mother, giving her a dark look. 

 

"We do not expect you to leave them alone, quite the opposite, actually. We need you two to meet up with a team of our people and help them blend in with your own, we need to get all the Mountain Men out, alive, and preferably, unconscious. They will be brought to justice in the real world, this is not something that needs to be passed on as mere consequence of human survival instincts, it should be one of the things that need to be made an example of. When you are all out of the Phantom and integrated back into society, we are planning to charge all companies and the governments involved with both criminal and civilian charges. We need the Mountain Men as an example to what they have caused, to what end people have lost their humanity."

 

This calmed Clarke down a bit and Lexa looked curious.

 

"What did you have planned?" asked Lexa, her curiosity taking over.

 

"A team of our soldiers and medical personnel will join you on the edge of the university's campus, they will have all that they need to ensure the people inside Mount Weather are unconscious for the transfer. They'll put them all to sleep with a gas that dissipates as quickly as it spreads, the gas will cling to every available surface and will protect their bodies from the radiation, which we will be lowering the levels of from here-"

 

"You can do that?" asked Clarke, stopping Christina mid-sentence. Christina takes it in stride and nods.

 

"How do you think they planned to kill you all off in the end? to actually come in and take your lives individually or take out the oxygen from the air is both time consuming and expensive, especially since they want to use the stations for other purposes once you are gone, To simply amp up the radiation to a level where even you cannot withstand it and then lowering it back is the easiest method that is entirely possible with the station's capabilities. Anyway- we will lower the radiation levels, but the gas is a precaution, they will let you two lead a few of your people inside, to witness the 'death' of the Mountain Men, please, Clarke, make sure that no one of your own people come inside, or at least explain to them what is going on before hand, After all this is done and your army is far enough away from the Mount Weather, we will have our aircraft take the bodies out and bring them to our facility back on Earth."

 

"We can tell people about this?" asks Clarke.

 

Christina raises her eyebrows.

 

"This is kind of the point. How can you lead them out of that damned place without them knowing where you are leading them?"

 

"They believe in the Commander's Spirit almost religiously, leading them away like sheep shouldn't be too hard..." Clarke's words cause Lexa to glare at her lover, and Clarke looks meaningfully at Lexa, reminding her that as much as Lexa would have liked to say that people mostly believed in her role because she was a great leader, the legitimacy of her reign was the chip nestled in the back of her neck.

 

"Yes, it would." said Helena, her voice soft and her smile comforting. "But the entire point of you leading them back to the real world is to dissipate the fog in which they have lived their entire lives, We want them to know that they are safe there, but that it is the real life, that this is how their lives were meant to be, We put too much stock in people realizing that this Phantom world, where they have suffered for so long isn't their home, but this is all they know, and your lives weren't all suffering and bloodshed over there. We know you've all lived and loved, that this is the way of life you know, and we won't want to overlook it, it's part of your story, it what makes you you, it what will set you all apart from the rest back on real Earth."

 

"Set us apart?" asked Clarke.

 

"Most people on Earth aren't as extensively trained as warriors, they aren't so set in lives led by revenge and vengeance, and no one is restricted as your people were on the Ark. The idea of someone being put to death for having two children, is unthought of, even China that once had a law stating there could only be one child per family had some loopholes and places where it was lax enough for people to have two, and since then this law is far gone from our lives and now is only a footnote on the pages of history. You will stand out, at least in the beginning, but you will all be alive, and that is what truly matters."

 

"Mum! They need to go! Roan's party is in the building with them!" comes a voice from the same screen Helena and Christina occupy, but they cannot see the speaker.

 

"How long do we have?" Christina questions the voice, a redheaded young woman who couldn't possibly be older than Lexa herself, joins the women on the screen,

 

"None," the redhead turns to the girls. "Sorry Lexa, Clarke, but you two have to go. You need to close your eyes and think about where you were before, this place is only a program in your own minds. You are still where you were, physically, but we need you to be all there, like a minute ago!"

 

While it's all new and strange to Lexa and Clarke, they do as they are told, they nod their goodbyes to the women on the screen and to Becca's interface who has been quiet, standing beside them all that time and close their eyes, opening them again only to find themselves back in the old classroom once again.

 

*** ***

 

After spending quite a while in the dreamscape where the lights were harsh, bright and white, the weaker yellow hued light in this world seemed dimmer, but a lot softer for both Lexa and Clarke. They both quickly look around them, clearing everything and locking it all inside the metal case, intending to take it with them on their journey. Just as they are done clearing the space, they hear soft footsteps and voices, they see a flickering light, which they recognize as torches, They were found.

 

Roan is the first one through the door, moving quickly and quietly, looking around until his eyes rest on the two young leaders, relief clear in his eyes. The rest pour in right after him. Charlotte, who was closer to Clarke this time around ran right into her arms, tearing up and sobbing with relief.

 

"I knew you two didn't get yourselves killed!" declared Raven in this overconfident tone of hers, a sure sign that she was shaking with fear the entire time.

 

"We wouldn't dare." Clarke rolled her eyes at her friend.

 

"What the hell did you two think when you disappeared together, going all alone? in the dark?" asked Wells, always the mother hen, although Clarke really didn't know how smart that was to do in front of the Commander herself.

 

"We weren't gone for that long..." Clarke felt as if they were all overreacting.

 

"Clarke, " Roan looks at them suspiciously. "We've been looking for the two of you for hours now, it's mid-morning already."

 

" _ chit? _ " Lexa is shocked at the time missing from them.

 

" _ sha, heda. _ " It's Aden's young voice that answers Lexa's inquiry. " _ deimieka laik hir. _ "

 

He carefully comes closer, as if he can see something is different about them. He then reaches them and his arms come around Clarke in an embrace so tight she thought she might be losing her breath. It shocked everyone, but Clarke soon found out why was she the one he held.

 

" _ yun meika, klark, ste laksen, yun jus. yu laik natblida. _ " there isn't as much question in Aden's words as an explanation and Clarke nods softly, pressing her lips to the top of his head softly.

 

" _ mochof _ " she whispers as they separate, Aden smiles softly at her and moves to wrap his arms around Lexa, his sister gladly receives the attention with a soft hidden smile.

 

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news," John Murphy never looked less sorry in his life. "but we really have to move, we need to get to Mount Weather in a couple of days and we have a really, really long ride before us." it sounded a lot like he was complaining, but Clarke knew he had a hidden fondness to horses that not all people that came from the Ark would understand.

"We do need to leave." agreed Clarke. Then she turned to Lexa and reminded her why they needed to truly hurry. "The rest of our part will be joining us here, at the end of the university campus."

 

"I thought we set the meeting point to be at the outskirts of the city, closest to the road we will travel back to  _ trigedakru  _ territory on." says Anya. Lexa nods.

 

"The rest of the greater party, yes, but there is another group that will be joining us. There is much that needs to be said about it, but first, let us find them and join forces." Lexa's words are still regarded as laws, even in a group as diverse as this, and with so many  _ skaikru _ members among them, but Lexa is indisputably a great leader, and the fact many of the people around her were not taught all their lives to respect the Commander did not bother in the slightest to take command over the group when she wanted something done her way.

 

They all exit the building, walking the short distance where a few warriors were waiting with their packed horses. It takes a short while for everyone to find their own horse and the packs to be redistributed as Lexa and Clarke's horses now had riders on as well, but sooner rather than later, they were all on their way.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trig...
> 
> Chit? - What?  
> sha, heda. deimieka laik hir. - Yes, Commander. The sun is here.  
> yun meika, klark, ste laksen, yun jus. yu laik natblida. - Your hand, Clarke, it’s hurt, your blood. You’re a Nightblood.  
> Mochof - Thank you  
> trigedakru - Woods Clan  
> skaikru - Sky People


	28. Chapter Twenty Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like the most evil person on Earth right now...  
> Because, for honesty's sake, I totally had this chapter ready last Thursday to be posted on Friday...  
> On the bright side, it's longer than usual...  
> Love you lots! (running to hide now...)

Waking up in their own kind of harsh reality has never been easy for Lauren. She knew she had it better than most, but the idea of being away from her family, her main source of strength and support for as long as she have, it was an unimaginable torture for her. Their work was important, and she would never voice her complaints, but she was getting restless and anxious to go back home, to her wives and children, to her life as a surgeon back in Toronto, to the simplicity of being among the crowded streets, unrecognized.

 

Here, on this space station, this small outpost just a little off-ways from x-2052, everyone knew each other, spending months together in the tin-can of a vessel. not to say it didn't have it's comforts and not that their work ever ran out or even became marginally boring, it couldn't be, their were essentially a search and rescue team operating in space, and the number of patient going under her hands prevailed the numbers that goes under her hands in the same amount of time, and yet, they were trapped and with the limited amounts of communications allowed, it was grating on all of their nerves.

 

She sighed heavily as she rose from her bed, the sheets crumpling as they pooled at her hips. The cool air of her cabin hit her heated skin, making Lauren shiver slightly, fumbling around the dark as she looked for the offending object that woke her up originally, her communicator.

 

The small oval shaped pin was beeping away and causing Lauren to almost snap at the inanimate object, pausing herself moments before she crossed her own line of her own brand of crazy, Lauren finally finds the pin and presses the Earth shaped button in the center of the oval, the two metal olive branches digging unpleasantly into the tip of her finger.

 

"Dr Lewis." her voice still comes out a bit snappy.

 

"Lauren, ten minutes in hangar bay 3. Pack tactical gear." It's Timmy Robbins, sometimes insufferable, dear, old friend. He sounds distracted.

 

"What is it?" she asks as she steps out of her bed and fumbles over to her closet, pulling out a black thermal shirt and tights combo, a button-down slate grey shirt and cargo pants go over it.

 

"Helena green-lighted the Mountain invasion. They got a comm link set with Clarke and Lexa." Timothy's voice is serious, but Lauren can't help but slip and smile at this new information. It means a lot, to have a direct line of communication with someone inside the Phantom World meant having information that couldn't be truly gleaned from video feeds that try as they might, never could cover everything and anything going on in this vast world like space station.

 

"I'll be there soon." she says and presses the comm button again, disconnecting the link with the Major and allowing her a small window of time to dress herself properly and tie her hair back in a tight french braid.

 

She looked herself over in the mirror over the sink in her in-suite, rubbing her still puffy eyes, reddened with sleep and grimaced over the darkened skin under her eyes, she knew that to others it would be near impossible to see it, but to her, it was the sign that declared to the world that she no longer was fit to such long term missions, though this seemed to be the last one anyone would ever have. Pinning her pin to the left side of her collar and a matching, non-active pin to the right, she was ready to leave.

 

The walk to hangar bay 3 wasn't long from her cabin, nothing was truly far away when their entire lives were cramped into a small space station, it was joked about, more than once, that apart from consumable resources, the Arkers in x-2052 actually had it better. Lauren didn't like it, though, joking about this awful experiment was like saying that it could have been worse, and really, it couldn't.

 

"Admiral Lewis." she was greeted as she passed the doors into the hangar bay. She nodded at the young officer who greeted her, noticing he had already strapped on a rifle and an ammunition belt.

 

"Ensign." she greets back, a little appalled by the obvious show of force they were going for in this mission.

As she walked closer to the cluster of the high ranking officers on board, Lauren felt a little more at ease. She was familiar with the rest of the station's entire medical crew and the people working around them. Her acquaintance with Major Robbins and his wife afforded her a little insight into the tactical force on board as well, but not nearly enough to satisfy her paranoid urges.

 

They were all gathered around a wide desk, an holographic rendering of the terrain they were about to invade unraveled itself in front of their eyes. The ridges of Mount Weather and the mountain range it was set in, its valleys and the numerous treacherous routes from one cave system to the other. They were to invade an unknown location, despite their insider information and the cameras that captured the on-goings of the x-2052 subjects entire lives, they were more unaware than Lauren was comfortable with.

 

They all know their mission's objective. Go in, Incapacitate, neutralize, capture and transport. it sounded a lot like a cargo transfer, and essentially, it was just that.

 

Hangar bay 3 is one of the only five hanger bays on the space station, the other four hosting the station's maintenance shuttle, the two scouting ships and the arrival vessel. Hangar bay 3 on the other hand, housed the tactical and medical gear taken on land-bound missions and an outer airlock.

 

The outer airlock was actually the entrance to the returning shuttle, the one used when returning the pulled subjects back to Earth. The shuttle was equipped with a deep refrigerating units to allow the transfer occur as the subjects were under stasis, allowing time for their bodies to heal and releasing the under qualified staff usually manning the shuttle, of the duty to tell each and every pulled subject what was going on.

 

The USS Persephone was a beautiful, sleek, shuttle. It's clean lines and the awe inspiring ingenuity that went into it's design was one of the greatest achievements of their organization, except, of course, saving human lives on a regular basis. sporting five decks and a dual core, the hull made of cooling cells in which the dormant passengers remain during the trip to Earth. This time though, it won't be enough. Only the prisoners will be transported unconscious and the rest of the people will be transferred in small increments. The shuttle's main crew will be making the 10 days round trip many times before all the subjects on x-2052 will be home and safe.

 

Their plans settled, the combined medical and tactical teams strap on their gears and lead the few soldiers allotted to this mission onto the Persephone. The travel time between their well hidden stronghold in space and the x-2052 space station is a few hours in maximum speed. they aren't too bothered by it, better safe than sorry, right?

 

Lauren is one of the first ones aboard the vessel, her high rank affording her that right. In fact, Lauren was currently the highest ranked officer on board the space station which meant she was actually the commanding officer of this mission. Aware that the personnel stirring the magnificent vessel know what they are doing, Lauren lets herself settle down in the small lounge off the command center of the ship, eyes closed and the machine hum lolling her back to sleep.

 

She doesn't know how long she was actually napping when she was woken by the strong scent of coffee in the air. a soft touch to her forearm and Lauren was snapped back into the real world, awoken by one of the only tactical team members she was personally familiar with, Timmy's wife, Kaitlin.

 

"Hey" smiled the older woman, her brown eyes sporting the same bone tired look Lauren's do, it's a common look among the people stationed on their space station.

 

"Hi." Lauren answered back, her voice scratchy and dry from sleep and the lack of fluids that have been deprived from it in the past few hours.

 

"Ready to start rounding up the troops?" asked Kaitlin Robbins and Lauren winced. Apparently, her little nap was several hours long.

 

"Not in the slightest." she claims as she raises herself to her feet, her right hand curling around the offered ceramic mug, full of the caffeinated beverage that was probably about to save her life.

 

Kaitlin smiled. "Sometimes that's the best way to go into battle." she offered her sage advice, Lauren snorted loudly.

 

"That sounds even worse." Kaitlin nodded but didn't back down.

 

"We both know that battle plans never last long in the test of reality, I'm just translating that into saying that going unprepared might be just the same."

 

"Even if it were," said Lauren, her free hand straightening her uniform and rubbing away the sleep from her eyes. "There is still a reason why battles are almost religiously planned throughout history."

  
  


*** ***

  
  


Clarke and Lexa headed their party and led them to the outskirts of the old world university campus, there were already people there, waiting patiently for them to be joined.

 

The first figure Lexa noticed was a large, bulky man, She recognized his face when they came closer. it was unmarked by life, which in itself was unusual, but the pale violet color of his eyes and the neat brown hair, long, but combed back into a sleek ponytail, made him look both different than the clansmen, yet more familiar than any  _ skaikru _ wearing their clothes from the sky looked to any given clansman. Lexa recognized the man, because she had encountered him before. He was a healer with no clan affiliation, he would come after the battle has passed and helped the wounded, blessed the dead, and then moved on to the next battlefield over, The Wanderer is what the clansmen called him.

 

" _ heda _ " he greeted, his voice deep and rumbling, but his light eyes dancing with mirth, He then turns to Clarke and smiles softly at the blonde. " _ wanheda _ " his tone is now soft and teasing, behind him, seven others emerge from the dark allies of the old world streets.

 

"Wanderers," greets Lexa, her lips pulled tight in worry.

 

"I usually go by Patrick, but if you feel more comfortable with that nickname, that's fine too." he grins this childish grin only those carrying their last bits of childlike innocence could hold, it transforms his intimidating facial features into something akin to that of a big teddy bear, or at least, that what Clarke thinks of when she sees him smile.

 

"Patrick." nods Clarke and the gentle giant smiles back.

 

"Let me introduce my friends." he gestures at the people behind him, all a strange mixture between cultures, all looking at Clarke and Lexa in varying degrees of awe. He introduces them all to the men and women by his side, they are all polite and soft spoken, it seems that this is how they have been getting away with spying on the clans for generations now.

As the two parties join, walking their horses calmly to the edge of the city, Clarke and Lexa take the time to interrogate the new arrivals.

 

"You are the ones sent to help us in our fight against the Mountain?" asks Clarke. Patrick smiles at her sadly.

 

"Not by far, Clarke," is his attempt at an answer, but when Clarke is still looking at him expecting more, he relents and continues. "We are all trained medics, but you are expecting a trained tactical force and a small fleet of doctors. " It clears things up for Clarke, but Lexa, who was unfamiliar with a difference of training between a medic and an actual doctor, was still in the dark. Clarke, taking notice that her lover remind confused, rushed to explain.

 

"Back in the old world, healers had an internal hierarchy." she explains. "not unlike the apprentices of the healers you have here, but a little more elaborate." Lexa nods to signal she understood this far. Clarke continues.

 

"There are a lot of areas of study on the ailments of the human body," she speaks like a storyteller, making Lexa and those who rode close enough to the two of them to hear, smile.

 

"One doctor's field of study was usually to a certain part of the body, a certain system that controlled so and so in the human body. Those doctors had help, not their apprentices, but trained help which entire training was to assist those doctors, they were called nurses. Then came the lower rung members of the ladder, which sometimes were just as important. The medics and paramedics, those were individuals trained in basic medicine, sometimes trained in more than just the basics, which performed life saving procedures on people when the injury happened, or where and when their illness took effect. They knew what to look for and what to tell the doctors once they got the patients and saved valuable time that would have taken to diagnose the sick and were quicker to respond to calls of distress and sometimes knew life saving tricks which doctors would have insisted on doing by the book and would have wasted precious time on."

 

Lexa looks a little overwhelmed by Clarke's long description, and Raven who rides closest to them, with Anya by her side, looks amused. Patrick looks somewhat proud.

 

"Clarke is correct in all but one count." he assures the accompanying party. "There is no old world, but the real world, and the sham we are in right now." those around them, the ones unaware stop their mounts in surprise, the shock written clearly on their faces.

 

"What the hell are you talking about?" Raven breaks the silence just as the rest of the party catches up and joins them, surrounding their Commander and the new members of the party in a somewhat protective circle.

 

"We have much ground to cover," when Lexa wasn't dedicating her time to being the Commander of the Twelve Clans, she was practicing to win the title avoider of the year.

 

"we shall talk more about it when we stop for rest tonight." she spoke with such decisiveness, that all else could do nothing more than hear and obey her words.

  
  


*** ***

  
  


Night time comes a little too quickly for Lexa's taste.

 

While she wasn't one to avoid a battle when challenged, she really wasn't a fan of explaining things to other when she barely understood them herself. Luckily enough for her, her lover and their newly found ally, Patrick, seemed to understand the situation much better and were both more than willing to explain it to the others, now all that was left on Lexa's shoulders was how to spin it to look as if she understood just as much but was willing to let the sky-fallen blonde and mysterious wandering healer to explain their situation in her place as a form of gift rather than a favor done for her. When Lexa told Clarke as much, the younger woman laughed so loudly that Lexa feared it might have blown her cover, Clarke laughed so much harder when she realized why Lexa was careening her head from side to side just so, causing Lexa to wince and grimace, almost regretting telling Clarke anything at all.

 

At the end, it all worked out just as well.

 

Patrick and one of his fellow wanderers had taken to telling the others of the on goings through a story, taking the task at hand and diverting the attention away from the still confused Commander.

 

He tells them about the experiment, and he tells them of the real planet Earth and the beauty still found on it, he tells them about the scientist that became the first Commander and about the organization her son created when he realized his mother hadn't died, but was kidnapped and held against her will and without her knowledge. He speaks of coming off age in that other, cleaner world, of the complexities of being an adult and the laws that held steadfast, despite the gross decency caused by the creation of the very ground on which they walk. He tells them about volunteering to come here, integrate into their lives and help pull the wounded and dying out whenever was possible. He tells them stories about the people he trained with before coming to the Phantom Earth and he tells them what to expect of the soon to be joining troops that are not too far away from them by now, he explains that even though he's aware, he hadn't been in contact with his world much, to make his story a little more believable.

 

Some doubt him, but it is obvious that the sky-fallen are taking his theory in a stride, and Lexa wishes she had the reason to ask why. She doesn't need to, in the end, and she should have figured it out on her own.

 

Clarke tells Lexa later, when they are curled up on their bedroll that this came up as a viable option to why they were back, not the experiment, but the idea of people behind the scenes pulling all sorts of strings.

 

Sleep somehow comes easy to the powerful couple, the night is silent and the crackle of the weak fire that remained in the middle of the circle of tents gave a soothing background noise that lulled them both into a deep, nearly dreamless sleep. While their sleep was soothing and rejuvenating, some found it hard to fall asleep while surrounded by new people.

  
  


*** ***

  
  


Anya's world has never been rocked as hard as it has today. Not waking up alive and well after dying. Not finding out she wasn't alone in her condition and not when the skies fell for the first time, carrying children inside great metal hulk surrounded by fire.

She wasn't alone.

 

From a scientist's stand-point, Raven understood the curiosity over humanity's fate after such catastrophic events, as in a nuclear apocalypse and the like, but what she couldn't understand for the life of her was, where were the others?

 

Where were the simple people, where were the ones with the conscientious?  Who protested against the travesty? who were the instigators? What the hell were they thinking?

 

They took so many human lives and upended them to the point of no return. The were all alone in a new, devastated world, fighting against odds that were from the beginning against their favor. They were stronger for it, yes, but they were all pushed into lows they would never have even considered, had they lived in the real world, and for that, Raven felt betrayed by the unseen forces and unseen men and women who thought they had the right to destroy her life long before she was even a thought in her mother's mind.

 

Shuffling from side to side in the tent she shared with John, Raven couldn't settle and fall asleep. She was too hot, then too cold, the silence bothered her, but each one of John's rather quiet breaths sounded to her like a cacophony of unbearable sound.

 

Giving up the pretense of sleep, Raven made her way out of the tent and walked to the center of camp, where a small fire still burned away, it's flames dancing in the air like children in the snow.

 

"Not tired yet, little bird?" asked a voice from the other side of the fire. Raven looks up and sees Anya sitting on the cool ground, knees to her chest and her arms holding them loosely, a dagger hanging lightly from her fingers, but Raven knew not to be fooled, she was just as deadly as she was in the daylight, when she held her weapons tight and when she held her head high and her entire form stretched to it's glorious height.

 

"Can't sleep." tells her Raven, and in a brave, maybe foolish move, she sits down next to the fearsome  _ trikru gona _ .

 

They sit in silence for some time before Anya whispers something to the dark night.

 

"Nor can I."

 

"Is it strange, to be back, just like that, one moment you are gone, the next you have never lived the past three years?" asks Raven, Anya, who is already deep in thought, hums out a non committed noise before finally answering Raven's question with words.

 

"It is more than strange, little bird, it's frightening, there is so much that was unclear when I first awoken, it all seemed much like a vivid dream."

 

"I thought so too." murmured Raven, and Anya turns her head slightly so she is able to look at Raven when she speaks. "When I woke up for the first time, I was all alone in my living quarters, and the hum of the machine seemed almost too loud to comprehend when I had months to get used to the silence of the ground." Anya scuffs.

 

"The ground is hardly silent!" she sounds insulted for some curious reason. Raven snickers at the warriors behavior.

 

"I'm not saying it's completely silent, Cheekbones. I said that compared to the Ark when it was in space, the ground is actually much quieter."

 

"You miss it?" asks Anya.

 

"What?" Raven doesn't understand what her companion means, she has many number of things she misses, but right now, she was content.

 

"Life in the sky?" asks Anya, looking up at the dark night-sky in wonder.

 

"Not really." tells her Raven, as honest as she can be.

 

"Why not?" Anya's brow furrowed, this was the most expressive Raven had ever seen her.

 

"There wasn't much up there for me." says Raven, scooting a little closer to the fire, she was getting a little cold. "My mother wasn't going to win any parent of the year contests and I have no idea who my father is, I already achieved all what was possible for me and explored every possibility, to be honest, I was getting dangerously bored."

 

"Dangerously bored?" snorted Anya, but Raven nodded so seriously at her question that Anya immediately knew there was more to it than she thought.

 

"On the Ark, whatever crime committed by a citizen above the age of majority was a capital crime and thus, punishable by death. People who are bored tend to seek out thrills, they would push whatever boundary set for them to make the boredom fade, on the Ark, such behavior has led, not once, good people to their death."

 

"Clarke told me something of the like when we escaped the Mountain last time, I did not understand what she was trying to tell me," said Anya, her fingers tightening around her dagger.

 

"Clarke had it the worst." tells her Raven and Anya looks at her curiously. "Last time around, I meant." Anya gestured for Raven to continue.

 

"When you commit a crime under the age of majority, in our case, 18 years old, on the Ark, you get thrown into our version of prison, we called it the SkyBox. you get thrown in there, once you are responsible for your actions, which is over the age of 12, no matter what is the nature of your crime, you stay there until your 18th birthday, on that day you get reviewed by the Council and the Chancellor, they decide whether or not you are fit to rejoin society, and if you are of us to them, if not, you get floated, which is the Ark's version of execution, no one gets pardoned, once you are in the SkyBox, you no longer get to study as they claim it takes too much resources that can be redirected to safer candidates and you lose your usefulness along with your freedom and profession. Thing is, Clarke has never done anything wrong."

 

"Clarke was in prison?" asked Anya and Raven sighed, she hoped that Anya already knew that detail.

 

"We all were, at least, this time around."

 

"What about the other world?" asks Anya.

 

"I wasn't, I was 18 years old and I was sent after the initial 100 teenagers sent to the ground so I can help them contact the Ark and give a proof of their lives."

 

"But the children in the First Fall?"

 

"They were all prisoners before, all expect Bellamy Blake." Anya recognized the tale, not about the boy who'd lost his way and insulted  _ heda  _ in her new rooms, but the over confident man who tried to challenge Clarke's leadership so many times yet always failed to do so. The part about all the youngsters on the First Fall being former prisoners, though, that was a new information for Anya, but she won't be distracted from her original question.

 

"Why did you say Clarke had the worst of it?" asks Anya, redirecting the younger woman back to their conversation's original line of questioning.

 

"Well, for a start, she never actually committed a crime."

 

"You said that they were all prisoners last time around, all except you." Raven nods, the shadows play on her face as the light from the fire dies down even further.

 

"They were, and so was Clarke, but she still never actually committed a crime before she was sent down here with the rest of the 100."

 

"The 100?"

 

"It's what they were called back on the Ark. 100 prisoners sent to the ground, to see if it was safe for the rest of us to follow."

 

"Why would anyone send children out to check if somewhere is safe first? Children hold the key to our future, sending them to the unknown on their own is akin to throwing away their and your own future."

 

Raven snorted with amusement.

 

"They never really worked on this logic on the Ark, it was all very clean and calculated, people were measured by their worth to the society as a whole and not by what they would bring in the future, the Ark never cared for trivial things such as our futures, they cared about surviving the now. The Ark was never meant to stay in the sky for so long, at least, we didn't know it should have lasted this long."

 

"but now we know differently..." seethed Anya, looking in the direction of the part of camp where those they used to call the Wandering Healers, right now, they weren't her favorite group of people.

 

"It's not their fault, not really." Raven seemed to catch on what Anya was insinuating in her dark looks over to the other side of camp.

 

"They are free to come and go." reminds her the  _ trikru _ general, but Raven is quick to rebuttal.

 

"Yet they chose to stay in this fucked up world, to help us get the fuck out." Anya grunted, unwilling to admit the younger woman was somewhat right.

 

"Anyway," Raven knew that the best course of action would be to continue the last line of conversation.

 

"Clarke's father found a fatal flaw in the Ark's systems, he told Chancellor Jaha and Jaha refused to help him out by getting a couple of other engineers to help him think it out. Some time goes by, and Jake, that's Clarke's father, realizes he can't fix it on his own, so he comes to the Council with a proposition to tell every citizen of the Ark about the problem and let them all solve it together, They forbid it and let Jake leave, telling him to fix the problem on his own. Jake decided to tell the people anyway, He tells his wife, Abby and she tells Thelonious Jaha, who was their close friend, but instead of trying to persuade Jake to stop, like Abby asked him to do, he arrested him, charged him with treason and executed him. Clarke was there for his arrest and she told him that she'll continue his work. Neither Abby, or Jaha knew that Clarke was aware of what was going on, so Clarke had to watch as her father was arrested and that very same day, was floated - executed - and as he was ejected out into space , to his death, Clarke who watched on as her father took his last breath, was arrested for treason and placed in solitary. She had no hopes of being reviewed and she knew she was set to die on her 18th birthday, in fact, I once heard her say that she was surprised that Jaha didn't try to bend the rules for her and execute her while she was still underage." Anya never understood the motives the  _ skaikru _ held dear, they were too different from the clans yet not nearly enough. It was just too hard to figure their motives, but not far enough that they won't be a vague idea in the back of your head the entire time you interacted with any number of  _ skaikru _ .

 

"Clarke spent 18 months in solitary, all alone with no human contact what so ever, until she was dropped with the rest of the prisoners, she was only three months shy of her 18th birthday, the drop, this death sentence Jaha imposed on her, it saved her life. Here on Earth, no one knew what she had done, and no one actually cared that she never actually did anything at all. They didn't like her at first since she was always one of the privileged - we had a sort of subtle class system on the Ark, it wasn't really official or anything, but there were clear differences between people - so she wasn't very liked as is, but Clarke once told me it was the safest she felt in a couple of years, she told me that to face 100 angry teenagers that mocked her and teased her and even wanted her dead, was a lot easier than facing her parents' old friend who on one end looked at her and smiled, telling her it will all work out in the end and on another, ordered her death without a trail or cause."

 

"She was their leader, she always was, they followed someone they hated?" asked Anya, she knew that  _ azgeda _ did the same with Nia, but somehow it seemed that the  _ skaikru _ would do it differently.

 

"They followed her because they saw she not only meant well, but that she was willing to do what it would take to keep them all safe, while Bellamy was thinking only of himself, his comforts, his sister and his beloved power trip. Didn't work out too well for him, but it helped Clarke rise to the top, so you won't hear me complaining."

 

"But now they love her." said Anya, trying to understand.

 

"Yes, they've gotten to know her last time around and this time we had three years of working together under our belts, the rest of those dropped with us looked for the strongest hand to guide them with no prejudice, we had an easier time getting them to follow us this time around because we seemed like we knew what we are doing."

 

"You lead together?"

 

Raven thinks over it for a moment.

 

"No, Clarke is our leader, but she's learned when to delegate work that she doesn't have to do on her own now."

 

"She is a good leader," Anya made an observation. "She's young, and she has a lot to learn, but it's not unlike what  _ leksa  _ had gone through to learn how to lead when she ascended as  _ heda _ ."

 

"She cares about us. It's more than we have ever had before."

 


	29. Chapter Twenty Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will stop apologizing, because I believe that the more a person apologizes yet repeats the offense they care even less, so lets agree that the update window will be between Thursday evening to Monday morning, OK?  
> Have a great week You lot! Keep safe and sane!  
> Also, season 4 trailer... Did anyone else see the blasphemy that was a Bellarke moment? After Lexa's death and Octavia's new bad-ass warpaint?

Come morning, at the break of dawn, the camp rose from it's easy slumber. The birds chirped around the sparse trees around them and the last of the fire's dying embers sizzled in the morning dew. The air smelled faintly of smoke and firewood, the warmth the fire given them all night long was weakened but as the sun rose, so did the temperatures and in the hour or so it took everyone in camp to wake up and complete their morning ablutions, it was warm enough.

 

Lexa was one of the first people to wake and where she'd usually be served her breakfast away from the rest of her war party and would dine on her own or with a select number of guests, here she was the one who helped Patrick light a smaller fire to cook breakfast over and helped boil the water for some strong tea that would warm them and help them keep awake on the rest of their journey.

 

It took Clarke a little longer to wake.

 

She was woken only when Lexa returned to their tent, a warm wooden cup of tea in her hand and a soft smile on her lips.

 

"Morning," greeted Clarke, her voice scratchy with sleep.

 

" _ os sintaim, niron _ ." Lexa waited for Clarke to seat herself on their bedroll and gave her the wooden cup, sitting right next to her beloved.

 

"What's in it?" asks Clarke, not recognizing the smell, although it was quite familiar. While Clarke had tried many foods in her time in Polis the last time around and while she was on her own in the wild and had visited Niyalah's trade station many times, she still wasn't familiar with most of this world's beverages.

 

" _ spir-mit _ I believe the  _ gonasleng _ word is spearmint?" Clarke nods and takes a small sip.

It's hot and warms her inside, yet the taste itself is light and it has some sort of both bitter and sweet after-taste, although Clarke is sure there is nothing inside to sweeten the drink.

"It's good!" she tells Lexa, her eyes wide in surprise.

 

"It is." laughs Lexa, she enjoyed watching Clarke try new things and gauge her reaction to them. "We drink it a lot on long campaigns. It helps  _ gona _ wake up faster."

 

"You drink it only on campaigns?" asks Clarke, Lexa shakes her head.

 

"No, I usually drink it when I am home as well, in fact, I'm sure you've seen me drink it before." tells her Lexa.

 

"Well, it's really good." Clarke muttered as she continued to sip on her hot tea.

 

"Are you hungry?" asks her Lexa, already rising from her place on the bedroll, but Clarke stops her by placing her free hand on Lexa's thigh.

 

"Don't leave. Not yet." Clarke's voice is husky and her eyes are pleading, her hand, warm from the tea, is burning on Lexa's thigh. The Commander of the Twelve Clans surrenders to her lover's wishes without a fight.

 

They sit side by side as Clarke sips her tea, silent and calm, simply enjoying each others company. Their time together had been short last time around and this time they had barely a few moments alone together, so they cherished whatever time they could steal away of the day.

 

The flap of their tent was raised and Anya's face peeked through.

 

" _ heda, dina ste ogud _ " while Clarke was hungry herself, she did not like the fact she had to separate from Lexa's body heat or part with the quiet company, but she was aware they had no choice.

 

" _ mochof, onya, osir komba raun snap. _ " Lexa told her former First as Clarke rose to her feet and pulled on her clothes from the day before.

 

"I need a bath" complained Clarke to Lexa as the two were left, once again, alone in their tent. Lexa chuckled.

 

"You didn't care much about those once."

 

"I was crazy then."

 

"You still are now." joked Lexa and Clarke took a second to realize that.

 

"Will you look at that,  _ heda _ , joking? Is it the end of the world already?" laughs Clarke.

 

" _ klark _ " Lexa's tone sounds an awful lot like a whine to the blonde and it makes her laugh even harder.

 

"Yes  _ leksa _ ?" Clarke smiles innocently.

 

" _ dina _ " Lexa grunts and opens the tent's flap allowing Clarke to exit first.

 

"Yes, dear." smirks Clarke and walks towards the cooking fire and Patrick, leaving her lover behind.

 

"Good morning, Ms. Griffin" Patrick's grumbling voice is the first greeting Clarke hears.

 

"Ms? Have I done something wrong?" laughs Clarke as she seats herself beside him on the asphalt, the ground it cold and somewhat wet, but Clarke has long ago learned not to let that stop her.

 

"Not at all," grins Patrick, "I was just being polite."

 

"Well, be polite by calling me Clarke." Clarke demands as he hands her a wooden plate with rations of salted meats and dried fruits cooked with nuts and herbs together. It was a little heavy for a morning meal, but Clarke took it, guessing it was meant to last longer than a usual breakfast.

 

Not long after Clarke begun to munch on her food, Lexa has joined the circle that seemed to be forming around Patrick's cooking fire, sitting by Clarke and picking on her own plate.

By the time Clarke is doe eating, most of the camp is on it's feet and the only ones not awake are Raven and John, so Nathan takes it upon himself to wake them up. Three minutes later they follow the teen out of their tent, clothes dark with moisture and scowls engraved in their features.

 

"Who's brilliant idea was this? to douse us with water?" growled Raven and everyone present either laughed or chuckled covertly, the two teens truly were a sight to be seen.

 

"It was all me, Reyes. All me," confessed Nathan, hands in the air and a huge grin on his lips.

 

"You are lucky I like you, you dumb-ass!" yells Raven over her shoulder as she stalks back into her tent, she enters but then peeks out from the front flap. "You better have a plate for me when I come back, Miller, or you will know the meaning of the word revenge."

 

Still chuckling, Nathan makes sure to set aside a couple of portions, one for Raven and the other for John, as the rest rise from their seats and begin to clear and pack up the camp.

 

It's not the first time Clarke help break a camp, but it is the first time she does so while keeping an eye on Raven, to make sure she isn't setting Nate on fire, which is unlikely, given that she adores him, but still, with Raven the phrase better safe than sorry never rang truer.

 

They were back on their way soon after. It was beginning to turn into a rather pleasant day, the sun warming their backs as they rode to the edge of the old world city. They didn't stop before reaching their final destination.

 

The first ones to notice the unusually large group waiting for them, were the children who decided to ride a little faster, racing each other. and they were quick to notice that not all was well with the lot.

 

When they came closer all was made obvious. Knives and swords were pulled out and the newcomers saw the group wearing a slate-grey uniform, holding  _ maunon _ weapons and speaking among themselves in English.

  
  


*** ***

  
  


Later, Lauren would gladly admit that Lexa cut a very impressive figure despite her relative youth. The young brunette reminded her of her wife when she was younger, which was not out of the realm of possibility since the two shared a great-grandmother, fact was, she herself shared much resemblance to her own second cousins.

 

What Lauren was not expecting was how much like her own daughter Clarke looked.

Their eldest child took after her biological mother quite a bit and was the kind of girl one imagines what a Nordic queen would look like in her youth, and that was the only thing about her daughter that was girly in any way. Clarke was very similar, while her face rounder and her eyes a little smaller, it did not take much away from the stunning resemblance, or maybe it was the distance and the amount of time she hadn't seen her children.

 

While the two were the first faces Lauren recognized since they are the ones most often under scrutiny in the real world, they were certainly not the only ones. Familiar faces trickled into her line of sight, and while her people were trying to keep the angry natives of this world at bay, she herself was too busy watching the newcomers.

 

The children and the general of the  _ trikru  _ army were the most familiar faces riding right behind the Commanders, the young Arkers riding right behind them, some of them exhibiting an impressive control over their mounts.

 

"Admiral Lewis?" one of the lower ranked officers approached her with a hesitant expression. She nodded shortly.

 

"Lieutenant."

 

"We need to proceed, we have less than 48 hours before the feed is refreshed and the mask elements that were implemented in HQ will become ineffective.”

 

Lauren nods. "Very well, thank you, Lieutenant." the young man couldn't have left her vicinity quicker had he ran.

 

She walks slowly towards the newcomers, her back straight and her expression blank, she was here to work her own brand of magic.

 

 

*** ***

 

 

She walked away from her people, slowly but surely, her gait sure but her moves could never be classified as threatening.

 

Lexa and Clarke watched as the thin honey blonde woman, wearing the slate-grey uniforms walked towards them, not a shred of fear in her brown eyes.

 

"Commander" the honey-blonde nodded  to the younger woman in respect. "Ms. Griffin" she now smiled at the blonde.

 

"It's good to see you both alive and well." she jokes and moves even closer. "I'm Doctor Lauren Lewis, and I heard you've been talking to my wife."

 

"wife?" asks Clarke, confused.

 

"Christina knows better than to keep things from me." offers the woman.

 

"Why should we trust you?" asks Clarke petulantly.

 

"Why would anyone believe me, Ms. Griffin, there are a lot of people who's their greatest achievement came from trusting the untrustworthy."

 

"Not us." tells her Clarke and Lauren smiles.

 

"No, not you."

 

It seemed as if this woman knew them better than they knew themselves.

 

"We have much to discuss, but we also have a long way ahead of us. We need to leave now if we would like to make it in time to beat the clock set for us."

 

"What clock?" asks Clarke. Lauren smiles over her shoulder and signals for the young women to follow her.

 

"To come here, we had to make sure no one in the real world knows you have help, or that we have an inside force ready to be activated at any given time, Ms. Griffin, we have a set amount of time before our firewall and the video-feed loop we have prepared are going to end and for us to be, once again, in the open."

 

"No." the quiet word came in a deadly tone from the once before silent Commander.

 

"No?" asked the uniformed woman.

 

"None of us will move before I get a proper explanation." came the quiet order from the mounted warrior. The woman looks her over with a satisfied smirk. She nods once and raises her hand, waiting for all the people gathered around her to notice. It didn't take long.

 

"The Commander demands an explanation, and I shall give her one. Make sure to use the time well, check for drones and go over or equipment, we need to be ready for an attack the second we enter Mt. Weather's territory." The men and women in slate-grey uniforms move without another word, they are synchronized and each of them knows what they are looking for and where to find it, if it's even there.

 

"There isn't much to tell that you haven't been told before, Commander." Lauren's voice was gentle but without pretenses.

 

"I wish to know everything." When Lexa speaks in that formal tone of hers and stresses over the word 'everything' not even Lauren can disobey her, and she was the one in charge of her own people.

 

"Very well." nods Lauren.

 

"My name, as I've said before, is Laure Lewis, I'm a medical doctor, a surgeon, and I world with the Walsh family's organization whose sole purpose is to bring everyone in the x-2052 simulation back to Earth and make sure the corporations and countries who've funded this project will be brought to justice.   
Here, I am currently the highest ranked officer, therefore, this task force is mine to command, anything I order, they will do. We are here to detain the people you call the  _ maunon _ , and bring them to justice once you are all safe and sound on Earth. We are on a clock because the whole lot of you are always watched, there is always a camera on you, especially you and Clarke, Commander, and technically no one should have access to this facility, it's supposed to be on a lock down to the day of your extermination."   
Lauren gave them a cocky smile.   
"None of us is very good with being told we aren't allowed to do some things."

 

"Why won't you let us deal with the  _ maunon  _ on our own?" asks Lexa, Lauren sighs.

 

"We know you all wish you could simply kill them for what they have done, but in bringing them out and asking for an accounting of their actions, we are delaying the deadline for your people's death."

 

"What do you mean when accounting of their actions?" asks Lexa, they had such a tradition here, but she was unaware it was a remnant of the old - other - world.

 

"It's a legal accounting of the defendants actions against a group or an individual. We will be asking for it in a court of law the moment we get them to Earth. This will delay your end since they'll need the servers to have proof of the accounting and to get all the answers right. This will give us more time to get the rest of you out."

 

"You speak about many things as if they were the law of the land, Doctor, yet I have yet to decide if you are worthy of my trust." Lexa's voice is strong and her eyes are roaming over the older woman's form searchingly. She's looking for something that cannot be defined.

 

"I am not asking you to trust me, Commander, I am telling you the truth, and my words will become the law of the land sooner rather than later. You will soon see there is no other way."

 

"I will not be threatened." warns Lexa. Lauren nods, her expression falling into a blank yet focused stare.

 

"This isn't a threat, Commander. We've only barely managed to cobble up a plan that will cover all of our bases, this is a necessity."

 

"You haven't used all the resources in your disposal." Lexa told Lauren calmly and the older woman's brows rose.

 

"What resources haven't we been using, Commander?" Lauren looked curious.

 

"Ours." and with that, Lexa dug her heels in her mare's flanks and urged the mount forwards, taking lead in what have become the race to Mount Weather.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Os sintaim, niron - Good day, lover  
> Spir-mit - Spearmint  
> Gonasleng - English  
> Gona - warrior/warriors  
> Heda, dina ste ogud - Commander, the food is ready.  
> Mochof, onya, osir komba raun snap - Thank you, Anya, we’ll be there soon  
> Dina - food  
> Maunon - Mountain men


	30. Chapter Thirty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> I know it's no longer morning, but even though it is a holiday this week, I don't actually have the days off, so I've been juggling family and work since Friday morning.  
> Have a great Holiday season, to those who celebrate Hanukkah, and Christmas and those who merely enjoy the cold weather (I know I do) and don't actually celebrate any holidays this week.  
> Another thing. On January first I'll be uploading a new story which started as my NaNoWriMo project back in November, I will be working on it as well, so time between chapters might become a little longer.  
> Love you lots!

The armies were already at the mountain when their party arrived from the Ghost City, and they weren't welcomed with open arms.

 

Lexa and Anya rode in the lead, Roan and Clarke riding not far behind them, the  _ natblida _ riding with them in a contorted arrow shape, the rest of their now massive party spread out behind them, at least a mile in length.

 

When they rode closer and the clansmen noticed what kind of clothes the rest of the party wore, many unsheathed their swords and bared their teeth. Clarke, who was used to this kind of welcome had to fight not to roll her eyes. This was the first time the clansmen were privy to the  _ skaikru _ presence in the flesh, but they were not made aware of the newly arrived force that followed their Commander to the battleground.

There wasn't much they could do before they reached the previously erected Command tent, so the rode on, tall and proud, unmoved by the hostile looks and continued on to the middle of the camp, where Lexa's personal tent was erected by her warriors prior to her arrival.

 

Looking back, Lexa would see that this was the turning point for her people. Seeing her making alliances left and right and becoming more and more accepting of strangers has brought the clans to a point where they could either adapt, or be left behind. It would soon become obvious just who were the people who trusted their Commander, even when they didn't understand or agree with her actions.

 

They dismount and make their way into Lexa's tent. Inside Indra and Gustus are waiting for them, their faces showing their surprise at the newcomers presence for only a moment, but Lexa notices when their expressions sweep over, knowing the two of them long enough.

 

" _ heda? _ " Indra looks at Lexa her brow furrowed in the slightest way, waiting for an explanation, an order, anything.

 

Had it been anyone else, Lexa would have taken this as an insubordination, but Lexa was well aware of the trust and loyalty Indra had placed in her, Indra was Anya's first and one of her mother's dearest friends, they stuck together despite the distance and their personal responsibilities. Indra respected Lexa, and sometimes, that trust was all that Lexa needed to have the courage to go through with some of her more innovative ideas which, to Lexa's immense joy, all worked out in the end.

 

Lexa nods the slightest nod towards her old ally and mentor and the woman settled back into her place, to the left of Lexa's throne.

 

"Dr Lewis," it Clarke who addresses the older blonde, just as Anya, the last of the people who were to be present during that planning session entered the tent, issuing an order to the guards outside to not let anyone in unless there was a clear emergency. "What is the plan?"

 

The leaders, ambassadors and generals of all the twelve clans stood around the map and looked at Clarke curiously. They've never seen her before, and some of them never heard of her. She was a new and curious thing. Lexa had brought her into the war tent, knowing that Clarke's awareness and knowledge of strategy in much greater and deeper than she'd let on.

 

Lexa loved watching how Clarke commanded the attention of all the people inside the tent. She had this look about her, that made people stop and stare for a little while, there was something about Clarke's personality that made people latch on and never let go. Her eyes glared with an unseen flames and her back stretched and her shoulders wide. She belonged here, among the many generals and leaders who did not know just yet, who this magnificent woman was.

 

Clarke's quiet reception at the war tent surprised the blonde very much. She still remembered the last time around, when she stepped into Lexa's war tent she was received with hisses and growls. the clansmen looked at their Commander as if she betrayed their trust.

This time, Clarke was an unknown entity, someone unfamiliar, but since she was already dressed in the local drab, apart from her rare golden hair, she could have hailed from any present clan.

 

" _ heda? _ " it was Flint, one of the ingranronakru generals who dares to question Clarke, even when Lexa had said nothing when she took control.

 

Lexa looks the man over. His eyes are wide with fear, but that was fine, men who fear nothing are usually the first ones to die on the battlefield, his hands are at his sides, palms open, his whole stance is nonthreatening and he only means well.

 

" _ dison bilaik klark kom skaikru, lokut en heda gon em kru. _ " Now many nod with understanding and a slight sigh of relief leaves someone who stood behind Lexa, she knew it to be Gustus, Indra was above such humane reactions.

 

" _ mochof, heda. _ " Clarke's obvious respect to the Commander had earned her even more respect from the others, although both Clarke and Lexa could hear the identical snorts coming from Anya and Indra, and Caris, the leader of the  _ sangedakru _ did nothing to hide her obvious amusement.

 

Lexa then takes matters to her own hands.

"Please, let us get on with it, Dr. Lewis, the plan?"

 

The expression Lauren is wearing on her face is not quite a smirk, nor is it a smile, but it creates some sort of tension between those present.

"We are taking over the Mountain." she says as if it is that simple. Then she elaborates.

 

"We will spread around in groups, covering all the tunnels and entrances to the Mountain, when we have them all, we open the doors and take over the Mountain." Lexa soon finds it was a good idea to let Dr. Lewis take over the explanation. The stranger weaves plausible tales about two factions in the sky. She tells them that the Ark was unaware of anyone else who had survived, having lost all contact with their tekk a long time ago, but that her faction was still very much aware of them all but unable to join the others on the ground until now.

Many are willing to accept her explanation, desperate for a solution against the Mountain which has been taking away their friends and families for generations now.

 

It doesn't take long for the message to pass. Join together and the mountain shall fall, spread thin and there would be nothing in it for you but disappointment, pain and death.

The plan is soon set, the leaders of the twelve clans leave for their camps and Clarke, Lexa, Anya, Indra and Gustus are left on their own.

 

It's obvious to everyone who know her, that Lexa doesn't want to talk, but she is as duty bound as ever, so she takes her seat at the throne and nods for Gustus to start talking, his eyes giving away just how much he wanted to ask his Commander what was going on.

 

“ _ chon em bilaik? _ ” Gustus noticed that the older blonde was not telling the truth, or at the very least, he realized there was more to it than they were told.

 

“ _ Lukot, don ai tel yu op _ .” Lexa can’t help but be vague, she doesn’t think Gustus can take anymore surprises. This week has been filled to the brim with unexpected arrivals and new game rules for all of them, even for Lexa.

 

“ _ heda? _ ” he is still suspicious, but he lets it go when he takes notice of the tired look in her eyes.

 

He nods and steps back, the air around them is charged and he knows he should take his leave when Lexa does nothing to stop him from making his way to the flap of the tent.

 

Indra was not as accepting.

 

This did not happen last time around. This was new ground, and Indra did not like change very much.

 

She didn’t speak, but it was obvious that she wanted answers to her unasked questions.

 

Lexa sighed heavily but relented.

 

She tells Indra and Anya everything they know.

 

She tells them about the second Flame, she tells them about the first Commander and she tells them about what they were told inside the mindscape.

 

They don’t believe her at first, but the longer she goes, the deeper they dig the more they believe.

  
  


*** ***

  
  


The camp outside is loud, there are fires surrounded by warriors, eating their evening meal and enjoying each others company, there are others, milling around and some who are fighting, fighting each other for the rush or over a spilled drink, fighting the  _ skaikru _ who were new to them, and so very soft, some fought with the newcomers, over their weapons and their strange clothes and way of speaking.

 

It’s been two days since the Commander reached the battlegrounds with her warband, joined by the Wanderers and the newcomers, a few hundred people more than she had left Polis.

 

As the hours go by, many whispers about the reason the Commander was joined by so many people who weren’t of the clans circulated the many camps.

 

Some thought the mountain has reached far and wide and that they wished to end the threat, for their own personal gain.

 

Some realized that if the mountain couldn’t reach the clans furthest away from _ trikru _ lands they couldn’t possibly get to those who fell from the sky.

 

Some thought they were spies that were sent by the maunon, healed by magic, to ensure they shall lose this fight like they had lost every fight against the mountain up until now.

 

Some knew what was actually going on, and told their friends.

 

Who told their friends.

 

Stories change when people tell them over and over, so by the time they are ready to take the mountain, there are more than a few versions of the truth, but still, the Commander says nothing on the matter.

 

They separate the massive army of the clans into smaller groups, their clan of origin means nothing, and they are placed solely by skill.

 

It is a strange sight for all to see _ trikru _ and  _ azgeda _ warriors standing side by side, working together, yet they are the first ones to settle into their respective rolls with little to no problems.

 

Lexa had never been to the mountain. That thought ran through her mind when Lauren and a couple of her people entered the war tent with rolls of maps in their hands. The maps were pre-war blueprints of not only the mountain and it’s tunnels but also the hatches and corridors used by the people who’ve created the entire complex, their jailers, for an absence of another term.

 

Slowly, Clarke looked the blueprints over and marked things she saw on the inside but never showed on the maps. It took hours, but Lexa and Lauren sat by her and listened to every single thing she had to say about the inside layout of the mountain, relying on the blonde to lead them to the right places with little complications instead of asking their soldiers to find their way around on their own. After, Lexa and Lauren helped Clarke redraw each map , making copies to give the team leaders.

 

They worked through the night, only stopping once they were all done and each team leader had a copy and a few spare copies were created as well. It was a time consuming work, but with no technology to help them along, they were forced to draw everything by hand and each time check and even double-check that each detail was correct and all maps were identical.

 

Done with their work, the three women took their morning meal in the war tent on their own, the young leaders asking Lauren many questions about the outside world, questions she was very happy to answer.

  
  


*** ***

  
  


It was a curious thing for Lauren, to see these two young women as the ultimate power in this devastated new world as they questioned her about schools and movies, music and her job when she wasn't with the organization.

 

They were both extremely bright and Lauren was pleasantly surprised to hear that should they all make it back, Clarke would like to continue with her medical career, and Lauren couldn't help but promise to herself that she would do anything in her own power to make it as easy as possible for Clarke to do what she loves.

 

Lexa on the other hand, looked very curious about their own legal system and once Lauren spoke about law, she took to the conversation like a fish to water. Lauren was not surprised that Lexa, 22 years old Lexa could talk law like the best layers Lauren had the misfortune to meet. She was a legislator since childhood, and to pass laws with little to no support , Lexa had done amazing things for her people and changed the way laws were seen and enforced.

 

While speaking about the laws of the real world was an important goal, Lauren was well aware that sooner rather than later, both Clarke and Lexa will be briefed about the legal system, given they would need both their testimonies to commence with the law-suit, what Lauren wanted to tell the two young women about had nothing to do with their future professions and their legal problems, no, she wanted the two weary women to know that beyond this last fight, their lives will change and that soon they will owe nothing more to their people.

 

"What is it?" Lexa is the first to notice that Lauren's mind was wandering away from their topic of conversation.

 

"Nothing bad." smiles Lauren softly, taking another bite of her rich breakfast.

 

"I would imagine so, you were smiling." says Lexa and Lauren is fascinated by how much like her eldest daughter Lexa sounds in that moment.

 

"I just thought that the two of you will like it there, In the real world. It would take you two some time to adjust, maybe even a little longer than the rest, but you will like it, I'm sure of it."

 

"How can you be so sure? you barely know us at all." Clarke asks looking up from her cup of spearmint-tea.

 

"Because I know enough." says Lauren, her expression turns dark. "No child should go through what you have." both Clarke and Lexa scuff at the use of the word child, but they both somehow realize, despite not knowing the older woman very well, that this had nothing to do with the two of them, not really.

 

"I wish you will be proven right." says Clarke softly.

 

"Only fools wish for the unknown." Lexa says bravely, Lauren and Clarke look at her, amused.

 

She was right, but everyone were a fool every once in awhile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Natblida - Nightbloods  
> Skaikru - Sky People  
> Trikru - Woods CLan  
> Azgeda - Ice Nation  
> Heda - Commander  
> Dison bilaik klark kom skaikru, lokut en heda gon em kru. - This is Clarke of the Sky People, a friend and the leader of her people.  
> mochof , heda - Thank you, Commander  
> Sangedakru - Desert Clan  
> Chon em bilaik? - Who is she?  
> Lokut, don ai tel yu op. - A friend, as I told you.


	31. Chapter Thirty One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year's Eve!  
> As I promised, one last chapter before the year's end...  
> Tomorrow I'll be uploading my new story, "Out of Sight" and I don't know how much time to write I'll have since the next 5 weeks are my last weeks on the job and I have to tie up loose ends. Hopefully, by February I'll have more time. What you should take from my rant is that I may be moving to a bi-weekly schedule so I can update both stories... We'll see.
> 
> Have a great year, and may 2017 not destroy us as much as the past year has.

They approach the mountain in the dead of night, not a single torch in sight.

 

They creep slowly, groups of five or six warriors each, each team of up to 80 soldiers each, spreads out and the leader's group at the front of their arrow-head formation.

 

The night is not noiseless. Nocturnal birds and critters go about their lives, the quiet footsteps of the Coalition armies not bothering them in the slightest, having lived near the mountain where reapers and the mountain men have been stumping around careless for generations.

 

In the quiet and darkness, each unnatural red light is seen and noticed, the team that joined Lauren on this mission take the first team, and help them dispatch every camera they find, marking the area with a sign that was agreed upon when they planned the attack.

It is slow, and the procession into Mount Weather's territory has began the minute the sun came down, but they make it to the many entrances to the mountain long before dawn.

 

The first team separates into the groups that approached together, each group leaving the slightest of trails towards their final location before they breach the compound. Those who left for the raper tunnels are armed with tone generators, courtesy of Raven's design and Lauren's resources. The ones on their way to the service hatch from which the mountain men threw the bodies of disposed clansmen were equipped with suction cups and strong, sharp picks that could cut through sheets of metal. Those who were stationed outside the main doors stood among the trees, quietly waiting for the signal.

 

Lexa and Clarke were assigned to the second and last teams.

Lexa was the leader of the second team, joined by Gustus who were on her group at his insistence that he must always protect his Commander, but the rest of the accompanying warriors were from the many Coalition clans who volunteered to serve with their beloved Commander on the front lines. They joined the first team, spreading around the many entrances and helping set up the passageways for the others.

The next few teams were assigned to their own entrance each, the groups moving independently, but the final destination was the same for the entire team.

A couple of teams were sent to the back door of the mountain, another four to the reaper tunnels. Four others made it to the dam that supplied power to the mountain, joined by another part of the tactical team that came with Lauren, and no less than 12 teams, all sporting warriors from all of the Coalition's clans, were sent to surround the front doors of the mountain, hiding just out of sight, in the tree-line.

 

Clarke's team was the last one to leave the camp grounds, it was composed solely of the  _ skaikru _ teenagers. They were to join Lexa's group and provide further tech support while Lauren and her tactical teams took over the mountain quietly.

Clarke had the chance to arrange the individual groups on her team on her own. She placed one of the Awakened as head of each group. Not all the teenagers who fell from the sky with them were battle ready, so there were more than enough of them to cover the position of group leader for groups of five to six people.

 

It didn't take long for the entire army to find their locations before the invasion. Clarke, Lauren and Lexa had done a great job with the maps, and their instructions were impeccable, but no plan had ever lasted into battle.

 

As quiet and as careful as they tried to be, one of Mount Weather's cameras wasn't deactivated  in time. It was a fairly deserted area, only a couple of groups used that route to their locations, therefore whoever saw anything probably thought it was either a figment of their imagination or a large beast, but the Mountain had stood strong for so many generations for a reason. They never took anything for granted.

A couple of suited men came to check.

 

They opened the door down in the reaper tunnels. that way was the quickest to the area in which they saw the disturbance, all the while they were being led astray by the teams, who were already in place. The  _ maunon _ haven't noticed the unnatural silence around them, having never spent long periods of time on the surface, therefore they never had a chance. They never saw the men coming, not the glint of knives in the deep darkness and their thick suits stopped them from hearing the soft swoosh of the blades cutting the air, cutting their suits, the air that was so toxic for them making it's way inside, burning their skin, depriving them of their breath.

 

Just as soon as the two me fell on their knees, a couple of uniformed soldiers came and tied them both down, attaching a gas canister to their damaged suits and pushed a button. The two  _ maunon  _ men quickly lost consciousness and the damage caused by the radiation seemed to stop and then slowly, their bodies begun to heal on their own accord. The group who dispatched the two couldn't help but to look on with both awe and disgust. Awe at the magic-like use of whatever the metal canister held and disgust at the fact the two soldiers helped their greatest enemy soldiers live.

 

"Why?" came the grunted question, it was a young brutish looking  _ boudalan  _ warrior that questioned the soldiers, and though he did ask, he wasn't expecting any answers. Leaders didn't answer their warriors' questions.

 

These soldiers, though, didn't seem to know that unspoken rule.

 

"We need them all alive, they need to pay for what they have done," Obviously they meant something a little different from what the group who heard them speak, thought was planned for these men, but even in the misunderstanding, some sense of a common goal did much to bring them all to trust one another a little better.

 

The rest of the plan went off without a hitch. Spread around the mountain's territory, hidden in the shadows and folds of the dark Earth the people of the Coalition could feel the change in the air, their breaths easier and their back straighter, their heads clearer. They were all so sure that this had to do with the fact that for the first time in many generations, they were standing in the Mountain's shadow, not afraid anymore, waiting for their Commander's signal to breach their defenses and take down their greatest threat apart from their own people.

What they didn't know was that the feeling of relief was quite literal, as they stood there, waiting, the radiation levels in the air plummeted and the oxygen percentage equalized with Earth's true atmosphere, finally, for the first time in almost 100 years, the people on x-2052, had a breath of somewhat fresh air.

  
  


*** ***

  
  


Clarke felt as if the air itself was making her nauseous, that wasn't an unexpected development, given what she knew of the plan, but it still made her head spin and her lungs burned as she took a couple of deep breaths, to get used to the newly circulated and the higher levels of oxygen in it.

 

Beside her, both John and Nathan tried very hard not to cough harshly, but they managed quite admirably, the rest of their friends did not manage quite as well, but kept quiet enough.

The were close to their final location, Clarke led their team through the many turns of the reaper tunnels, the older, abounded ones which no longer held much value to the mountain, having been almost completely collapsed for dozens of years now. The almost 70 teenagers following Clarke's lead weren't quite as silent as their ground born counterparts were, but in the tunnels it no longer mattered, which allowed them to gather the many groups that made their way to the mountain on their own and make the last part of their journey together, once they were all inside the mountain.

 

A couple more turns and a weak source of light, Clarke recognizes it as a stick-light, something she had seen before in movies, but never thought she would see with her own eyes, held by Lauren who was standing next to Lexa, waiting for the young  _ skaikru  _ teens.

As they came closer, the rest of Clarke's closest friends spread out among their people, making sure none of them are overwhelmed by what was about to happen, they still had time, but Clarke always found that it was better to be safe than sorry.

 

" _ wanheda _ " Lexa spoke into the darkness, more than aware of who was closing in on their location. Many people on her side gasped and muttered to their friends. Clarke wanted to laugh, you'd think that the highest ranked warriors in Lexa's army would know when to keep quiet. Clarke's people simply looked confused, looking behind them, searching for another group or even a team that might have followed them in. After a week among the clansmen, they were all aware of how easily they could sneak up on them. They saw nothing.

 

" _ heda _ " Clarke hissed softly, Lexa knew very well how much she hated that moniker, but it seemed Lexa had made it her mission to let it catch again.

 

"Good, you made it." even in the weak light, Clarke could see Lauren grinning from ear to ear. She looked a little too cheerful in Clarke's opinion, given what she was about to do.

 

"Wouldn't miss it!" Raven who was only a few meters behind Clarke called, also a little too cheerful for her own sake. " 'sup Cheekbones?" she threw towards the tall, slender figure behind Lexa, the darkness just about covering her.

 

" _ reivon"  _ even Lexa is surprised to hear the very mild greeting Anya sends Raven's way.

 

"Welcome to the party, Clarke!" grinned Lauren which resulted in a shudder running through Clarke's spine.

 

"Dr. Lewis" she greeted cautiously, Lauren and the tall, blonde man who stood next to her rolled their eyes, looking at each other playfully.

 

Clarke couldn't help but wonder who this man was, she had never seen him before, and it seemed he was part of Lauren's tactical team, but he wasn't standing behind her, as if waiting for her command, but he stood next to her, as if he was her equal.

One thing Clarke noticed about Lauren's people was that none of them were wearing any rank markers.

She knew they had them, after all, Lauren herself introduced herself as the highest ranking officer, which meant others were ranked lower than her, but never had Clarke seen any sign to what rank each of them were.

  
  


*** ***

  
  


Lexa had been standing on edge ever since she reached the agreed location for their group. Lauren was already waiting for her, but she wasn't alone.

It's not that it was unexpected, after all, they agreed beforehand that no one would go on their own, and that each group should boast at least five warriors each, but she expected at the very least to recognize the soldiers Lauren had brought with her.

 

Lauren greeted her with a smile and the rest of her group did the same. There was a tall, blonde man who stood next to Lauren and when Lexa first got there was talking to her in hushed tones, looking at their map and marking it with a pencil. Next to him, very close to his side, stood a rather short brunette woman, she was also looking at the map, but unlike the rest of their group, she wasn't wearing a long firearm, hanging from her shoulder, but a smaller pistol, nestled in a holster, half hidden by her trousers. She was wearing the same slate-grey uniform, but the protective gear above it was printed, unlike the rest who wore a solid black vest, her vest had MP printed on in white bold letters.

 

Behind the three of them, stood a couple more women, one blonde, but otherwise identical to the brunette with the MP printed vest. Lexa realized soon enough that they were twins, much like Luna and her brother, Liev. The blonde twin looked a little softer than the brunette, her face rounder and her curves softer, they were both very beautiful and both wore a very serious expression on their faces, a very no nonsense vibe about them.

 

The blonde twin stood a couple of meters behind her three other group members, she didn't hold a firearm at all, which gave some comfort to Lexa, who felt the huge disadvantage the firearms these people held gave her. She was speaking to the last of Lauren's group members. She was small, the shortest, the thinnest and by the look of her, probably the youngest of the group members. She wasn't holding any firearms as well. She might have been small, but her expression was determined and fierce.

 

Before Lexa could ask about the new people she had yet to meet, the next wave of people came in, this time carrying crates of equipment, which Lauren's team unpacked and begun building up from the disassembled components. They assembled a weapon that looked a lot like the injection gun Clarke used for the  _ shadjus  _ serum, which help Lexa recognize that the use for this particular weapon was medical, rather than lethal, which drove home the point that their goal here at the mountain wasn't to slaughter, as they had done to her people for generations, but to incapacitate and incarcerate.

 

It was a strange cross between what she saw Clarke use and something else entirely. There was the body of it, and like the gun she saw before, the part Clarke told her was the trigger and the part where the liquid comes out of, but even that was different. It was wider and had a hollow end, unlike the one Clarke used which ended in a thick needle. this one also had a box that attached itself to the body, filled with something very close to arrows, much to Lexa's surprise, then she recognized what it was, the  _ maunon  _ used it on her people before, it puts people to sleep, almost instantly. Lexa loved the irony. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...

 

Soon, time had run out, and while Lexa stared at them building their own version of weapons, Clarke's team approached.

Blonde haired and blue eyed, she was wearing the armor Lexa had made for her. She looked fierce and her people were listening to her, for once, not asking any questions.

  
  


*** ***

  
  


Lauren didn't notice Clarke's team until Lexa moved to greet her lover. She almost felt like she was losing it, but she then remembered that Lexa and Clarke were so in tune together that if they had a desert between them, she's still sure they'll find their way back to one another, with a compass or without.

 

While Lexa's interest in the newcomers was because of the blonde that led them, Lauren was more interested in the final three crates they were carrying.

 

They choose this location for a reason. This tunnel is sitting right below the lowest air-duct intersection and had a valve to the outside, for equalizing pressures. They were here to make use of the Mountain's less known weakness, their unguarded air filters.

As soon as they were all done greeting each other, Lauren, Tim and Kate walked up to those carrying the crates and took the heavy wooden crates and setting them near one of the tunnel's walls.

 

"Are you all ready to go?" Lauren asks over her shoulder.

 

"We are" murmurs Lexa, but it's more than enough.

 

The warrior in the entrance to their tunnel lights his fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Trig in this chapter are all names we are more than familiar with... if you have any questions, feel free to ask...


	32. Chapter Thirty Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey you lot!  
> I know, it takes longer, but I have even more bad news.  
> In the past three weeks I have been suffering from a back injury so bad I can't even sit upright most of the time, which makes typing those chapters a real hardship. I'm not giving up! I'm not even saying that I will update even less than bi-weekly as I promised, but I am saying that every once in a while (until the matter is solved, hopefully, soon...) I might be a couple of days late.  
> Have a great week you guys, and may 2017 be a great year, despite everything and the setting that are not so welcoming. (I won't say what, but it's orange.)

There was much thought put into the planning of this very night. Many men and women spoke for hours at length to plan the attack on the mountain, both in the real world and in the Phantom.

 

Having lived through the demise of the mountain once before, Lexa and Clarke knew very well that many things could go wrong at any given moment, they also knew not to underestimate their enemy, given their past actions.

 

As the signal fire in the entrance to their cave system is lit, Clarke and Lexa take a moment to look at each other, speaking their worries with no words, offering their support to each other in silence.

 

It only takes a few seconds before they get the message that another signal fire was lit and they were ready to begin.

 

Lauren and her people made a quick work of opening the wooden crates. Each had a different purpose, from what could now be seen.

The first crate held small triangular pieces of rubber with a couple of thin slits at the elongated arms, they were black in color and could fit over the mouth and nose area of a human being. It was gas mask, very advanced gas masks. Not wasting a second, Lauren's friends begun handing out the masks to the people around them.

 

"These are gas masks, they go around your mouth and nose, wet them a little with water and they'll stick to your face with a vacuum seal." Lauren is quick to explain.

 

It takes a few moments for people to realize Lauren was instructing them on how to wear the masks that were just handed to them, before Clarke and her fellow  _ skaikru _ followed her instructions. Lexa simply looks on at her own mask with a suspicious look.

Clarke sees her lover hesitating and smiled through her mask, the only visible mark to her smile are her eyes.

 

" _ leksa. _ " she catches Lexa's attention. " _ em ste ogud. _ " Lexa takes a couple of minutes more, as Clarke's muffled voice throws her off her game and then she wets the rubber with her own canteen and presses the wet material to her face.

 

It sucks her skin in, and feels odd, it's not a pleasant feeling, to wear the mask, but it's not uncomfortable and it does feel secure around her mouth and nose. She can no longer smell the world around her, but every time she takes in a breath, she smells a sharp unpleasant odor that somehow feels new, but is so unnatural and disturbing Lexa wishes she could remove it and burn the offending object.

She must have had a certain look in her eyes, because when she's done pressing the mask, Clarke is looking into her eyes with an amused expression in her own eyes.

 

"It would smell worse." she comments and Lexa is taken aback for a moment before remembering that the two of them are now linked,

 

"What would?" she still tries to keep a sort of normalcy in their conversation.

 

"The rubber, when it's burning." Clarke answered Lexa's question with a smirk. "You were looking at the mask like you were trying to murder it." she explains for the sake of the others.

 

"I never said I will be using fire." Lexa almost sounds insulted by Clarke's insinuation, but Clarke can see the disappointment coloring her lover's eyes as soon as she mentioned the smell of burning rubber.

 

"No, you never did..." agrees Clarke with a shake of her head.

 

Once the clansmen saw their Commander covering her own face with the mask Lauren's people provided, they follow along, all wincing slightly at the sharp, unnatural smell that takes over their senses once the mask is tight to their faces.

 

It takes long enough, as even the example their Commander set, was not enough to convince some of the more cautious warriors to place a new object so near their nose and mouth, but eventually, bit by bit, they all relented and a few minutes later, all those present in this particular cave system, were sporting the mask, all except the people who worked so hard to pass it around and help the others wear it. Just when  people became suspicious of their intentions, the five strangers reached to their own trousers, opening the pocket just above their left knee and each pulls a mask of their own, but instead of being all black like the mass produced ones, Lauren's mask is dark Navy blue, and so is the blonde woman's. The only man wears one in what Lexa would later learn from Clarke was Camouflage green. The brunette with the MP print on her gear had a white mask and the last and youngest member of their group had a dark grey mask, as if it once used to be black, but had been used until the color of the rubber itself faded.

  
  


*** ***

  
  


Once all of her people wore their own masks, Lauren nodded to Timothy and the two of them approached the next wooden crate.

 

They opened it carefully, fully aware that if one of the canisters in it would be harmed their plan would be in serious trouble, even if they did pack some spares.

With the second crate open, they carefully took out the canisters, one by one, and handed them to the rest of their people, each held three, two tied to their back and one in their hands. It didn't take them long to tie up the 15 canisters between the five of them, it was a well practiced motion by now, take the canister, pull out a thin rope from the personal gear, fold the rope to two, tie the rope around the canister once, tie the other, right next to it, tie them both, wrap the rope again around the two canisters and then bring it to the bottom, bring it back to the original tie and fold there, repeat the other way around, tie around your back.

it wasn't the most secure of holds, but then again, the plan was to use the gas in the next few minutes.

 

Lauren took a moment to look at her two younger allies, Clarke and Lexa looked on as the canisters were tied and Clarke was holding one close to her eyes, reading the small script on the side. Lauren smiled, she reminded her of her daughter so much.

 

"It's based on chloroform," she commented to the younger blonde, who now looked suspicious.

 

"There is no trichloromethane in it." Lauren is impressed once again, but is somewhat amused as well.

Clarke's people looked something between surprised and alarmed. Lexa's people look befuddled.

 

"The function, not the substance, we don't want to give the ones we use it on any lasting damage."

The clansmen looked at Lauren with anger, and even Lexa twitched in place, thrumming with whatever emotion she was attempting to repress at the moment.

Lauren was close to rolling her eyes at them all.

 

"Do you really think we would mass produce anything that has only one use?" then she thought about it and realized that the only ones who would understand the motivation behind mass producing things like drugs would be Clarke's people, so she explained.

 

"We use this gas to defuse hostage situations back home. It puts everyone to sleep and extraction teams go in and release the hostages, turning in the culprits."

 

"and if they have those masks?" asks Raven, already seeing the problem.

 

Lauren and Timothy look at each other.

 

"The gas doesn't work only by breathing its fumes." explains Timothy. "It's also absorbed by the skin."

 

"Then how...?" Clarke is already asking the real question.

 

Lauren smiles.

"We dispense the gas, let it run for a bit, then we activate their fire alarm, it should spread water everywhere, no self reliant base will let itself burn." when they all give them blank stares, she  continues. "After a few minutes the atomic bonds in the gas become weaker, they can be broken by water, so once the fire alarm is on and the water sprinklers has done their job, the mountain will be safe for us to go in."

 

"So what the masks are for?" asks Murphy.

 

"The mountain's weapons. Better safe than sorry." calls Lauren over her shoulder as she reaches for the third crate. She opens it. Inside are rows upon rows of yellowish liquid vials all set inside spongy beds.

 

They were ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one line of Trig... They are considerate of the newbies who know nothing of their language...
> 
> em ste ogud - It's okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed reading! I'm aiming for weekly updates, but I'm a medic, and when duty calls, it calls, so here's to hoping!
> 
> reshop heda


End file.
